Just A Flu
by Lucy Heartbreaker
Summary: Lucy had been sick for months now, and she has no idea what could be the reason. After finally reaching her breaking point when trying to relax with her guildmates on a trip to a 5 star resort, she finds out a shocking secret and is afraid to let the guild know. Set years into the future, includes a lot of the main ships! WARNING: NOT A HAPPY ENDING, MANY ANGST AHOY.
1. Sickness

**A/N:** Hi there! First of all I don't want to bore you with the authors note so I'll just let you guys in on a few things. This may not follow canon to a T, so don't expect that very much. Just think of it as it being yeas after the whole Zeref/Acanologia deal.

This story does however have very many ships, some of the obvious ones being Gajevy, Gruvia, Miraxus, etc! The main one however will be NaLu because what else did you expect *eyebrow waggle*

I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters of course HOWEVER I did create the children that appear in this story so I guess I own them...? Not offically, they're just fanchildren lmao, anyways I hope you guys enjoy! Onto the story!

...

"Lu-chaaaaan~!"

The voice was distant and barely audible, but it had reached Lucy's ears clear as day. The blonde had been laying in bed for the majority of the day, curled up in a comfy little burrito made of her sheets and blankets as she fell asleep, woke up and then repeated the process. This time she had just woken up for the 3rd time this morning, her eyes blinking as she tried to adjust to the sun that had been beaming from her window.

"Mm...?" Lucy murmured groggily, stirring just a little but not emerging from her comfy warm cocoon. The voice called out to her again and this time she couldn't ignore it. She forced herself to sit up and let the blankets fall off of her, causing her to shiver from the sudden air but relaxing once again considering her house isn't too cold due to her heater.

Lucy hugged herself as she sighed, reaching a hand up to rub her temple as she felt a twinge of pain shoot through her head like a bullet. _Ugh, a headache._ Lucy groaned and shut her eyes tight in an attempt to subdue it.

It wasn't as if headaches were a weird thing to experience, it's just the fact that she had been getting them constantly for the past few weeks and Lucy was beginning to tire of having to chug down countless pills to stop it. After hearing the voice for a third time, there had been a knock on the door just a few minutes later and Lucy grumbled as she fumbled to get out of bed.

"Coming." She spoke as she slipped on the slippers which sat near the edge of her bed before she headed over to the door, her blanket still wrapped around her shoulders as she shivered from her sickness. Her shaking hand reached for the knob and took a hold of it, turning it before cracking the door open slightly.

"Lu-chan there you are!"

"Levy? What are you doing here?"

Blinking, Lucy would look down to the shorter female confused as to why she was here at her house. She never really came over unless she invited her to read the latest chapter of her novel but other than that the only ones who had came to her house from the guild was her team mates.

"I came to check on you, silly." Levy spoke as she put her hands behind her back innocently, smiling to her in a warm way as she did to everyone. Levy had a nice smile, Lucy couldn't think of a moment she didn't see the female smiling aside from when she got into her books and writing.

The smile would soon fade however when the bluenette noticed how drained and tired she had looked. "Jeez you look awful!" She couldn't help but shout out, but soon clasped a hand over her mouth as she looked to her apologetically for her outburst.

Lucy simply sighed, closing her eyes when she did. "I know, I feel awful too." She grumbled, clutching the blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders tighter to cover her body even more.

"I felt I should check on you, the guild is worried about you." Levy spoke with concern in her voice that reminded her a lot like a mothers. "Everyone sends their regards though, they've all been taking jobs and haven't had time to come see you." She then stated as she twirled a blue strand of her hair on her finger, the hair being much longer then it was years ago.

It was true, the guild was busier then ever and jobs had been popping up left and right, the members couldn't let that go to waste. Erza had been on a job for a couple of weeks now, she had taken Wendy and Carla with her for more experience while Gray, Natsu, and Happy had gone their seperate ways to complete other tasks.

It was a bit lonely without the pink haired wizard suddenly appearing out of no where and asking her to take a job with him, but she let him know that it was fine if he wanted to go on missions without her. Afterall, it wasn't as if they HAD to be together 24/7, even though it would've been nice.

Lucy would simply nod, a small smile appearing on her facial features as she looked back to the frantic script mage. "That's alright, I've just been here... dying in my bed." She jokingly said, but it aroused no laugh from Levy.

"Lu-chan don't say that!" She exclaimed, she was such a worry wart. "You've been sick for 2 whole weeks now, you should go see a doctor." Levy would nod once, crossing her arms in a matter of fact way.

"I don't need a doctor, the medicine I have now is FINE, Levy." Lucy grumbled, looking down to the ground with a pout. As much as she hated to admit it, she was terrifed of doctors and if she had medicine that could solve the problem she would avoid doctors like a plague. She also had Wendy to help her out, she didn't need to go through all that trouble.

"You always say that and then you end up worse." Levy retored, raising an eyebrow at this.

Lucy kicked the ground a bit with her slipper, fumbling with the edges of the covers that rested on her shoulders before she looked back up to Levy.

"Fine, If I get worse I'll go to the doctor." She then said. "Deal?"

"Deal, but you have to keep it!"

"I will, you know I keep promises."

The two females would begin to laugh and giggle at their little exchange before another shiver shook Lucy to the core. "Uwah, this sucks..." Lucy whined clutching the blanket tighter. She didn't let it get the best of her however and she was reminded of why Levy was here in the first place.

"Ah, that reminds me Lu-chan." It wasn't too late before Levy had spoken up again, putting her hands together as a wide smile spread across her face. This concerned Lucy, as she only got this smile whenever she had an idea or plan to do something.

"Eh?" Lucy simply questioned.

"I went on a job the other day to help decode some ancient scripts," Levy began, closing her eyes as she explained herself to the celestial mage which stood at the door still in her pjs looking like a mess. "You'll never guess what the reward was."

Lucy brought her hand up to her chin to rub it as started to think of the possibilities, a gold ring? Or rather, gold bars itself? Diamonds? Or just jewels?

"Ahhh I can't think clearly right now," Lucy said defeated. "What was it?"

With a giggle, Levy simply stood there. She didn't pull out a bag of jewels, not any tickets to anywhere, just stood in excitement.

"Reservations to the number one seaside resort in Fiore!"

Reservations to a seaside resort? Now that sounded amazing! They could relax in the lavish rooms or spend the whole day at the beach just having fun. That would be fun, if Lucy wasn't sick as a dog.

"That's great, Levy-chan!" Lucy beamed, but soon her expression fell to a frown. "Just one problem, I don't think I feel good enough to go..."

The bluenette frowned as soon as she heard the news that she wouldn't be able to go. She wanted to invite her, due to the fact all she's been doing lately is staying at her home sick out of her mind and she hasn't even been able to go on jobs.

"That's ok! How about you just try to come?" Levy was hopeful that Lucy would change her mind, after all what better way to work off a flu then to run around and break a sweat? Lucy fidgeted a bit as she thought it over, biting her bottom lip considering the pros and cons.

On one hand, she could end up just staying up in the room not being able to go out with them, or on the other hand she could have a lot of fun and the flu would go away. It was a two way street, but Lucy thought that she had nothing to lose.

"Alright alright, ya got me." The blonde finally stated with a sigh, smiling once again as she looked to the now excited script mage. Without warning, the small woman would jump and wrap her arms around her, squeezing her tightly.

"I'm so happy you agreed, Lu-chan! It won't be for another week, so I hope that everyone will come home from their jobs by then so we could all go." Levy glanced up to Lucy realzing that she was hugging her a bit too tightly before she quickly let go with an apologetic smile on her face.

"Yeah, but what about Garcelle?" Lucy questioned, forgetting about the hug for now.

Garcelle was the name of Levy's baby girl, one whom she and Gajeel had brought into the world two years ago. She was absolutely gorgeous, eyes as piercing and menacing as Gajeel's with beautiful raven hair complimenting her porceline skin which she got from Levy. Lucy remembered the day she got to hold her when she was born. It wasn't for a while however, seeing as Gajeel wouldn't let anyone but the doctors and Levy touch her, dragons were protective over their young and it was especially the case for him considering it was his first born.

"It's ok we're definetely taking her, Gajeel wasn't too keen on going at first but I convinced him." Levy stated, nudging the blondes arm as she raised her eyebrows up and down playfully. Lucy didn't want to know what she meant by that so she let it slide.

"Heh well if Erza and the others are coming we can expect entertainment for the kids, huh?" Lucy would giggle as she thought of the other children that the guild had welcomed years ago. Come to think of it, a lot of the guild members had started lives together and had children in the years prior.

Lucy was also waiting paitentely for her 'happy ending', she was hopeful that she would be able to have children and get married as well. However, with Natsu as her partner and still being as clueless to her feelings as ever it was hardly possible she'd start it soon despite all they've been through.

"Well Lu-chan, I had better get going. Gajeel gets anxious when I'm gone too long." Levy sighed as if it was troublesome to her, but that was far from the truth. Anyone could tell they were happy together, she just liked to tease a lot.

"Oh right! I guess I'll stop by the guild soon to check up on things." Lucy replied, happy to get back to her comfy bed that was calling her name all this time.

"Of course! Get well." With that, the script mage turned on her heels and began to head back to her home. When she was fully out of sight, Lucy swiftly closed the door shut once more and happily went over to her bed once again to slip off into a sweet nap, one that would stop her feelings of nausea and sickness for a couple of hours and that's all she would need.

...

"Ah Lucy-san we haven't seen you in weeks!" From the river that flowed in front of Lucy's house there had been a familiar voice call out to her. The two men whom had always greeted her and warned her of walking on the ledge were never late in wishing her a good morning or good night and it was no surprise to her that they would be there today.

"Good morning!" Lucy chimmed as she waved a hand towards them politely, locking the door to her apartment before she started on her way towards the familiar guild she loved so much. Thankfully, today she had been feeling much better than the past few weeks and she was confident that she would be able to survive the trip to the resort.

"Still, I can't help but feel a small amount of nausea in the pit of my stomach..." Lucy grumbled seemingly talking to herself, however her faithful companion Plue was walking along side her, patting her leg in a comforting way as he muttered out his usual phrase.

Lucy would smile at the spirit before she bent over to pick him up and craddle him in her arms as if he was a child. Plue trembled as he usually did but smiled either way as he raised his arms up and spoke.

"Pun, pun!"

"I know I'm excited too, we haven't been to a beach in a while!" Lucy sighed dreamily as she balanced herself on the edge of the sidewalk on her way to the guild. Sure, the guildhall had a really nice pool but it wasn't the same as getting into the salty ocean and kicking up some sand. That's what she wanted to do the most, it seemed like it would relax her.

It didn't take the blonde very long to reach the giant guildhall of Fairy Tail, the spirit in her arms would glow a golden yellow before he disappeared into the spirit world and she would push open the two large doors to the place.

She glanced around the room and a smile appeared on her face, everyone causing a ruckus and drinking as per usual. There had been a lot of new faces over the years but the old ones still stuck out to her the most.

"Lucy-san!" The voice had called out, coming from below as the blondes eyes wandered to the ground.

Her gaze was met by a child, about seven years old, a glare accompanying the smaller facial features as she suddenly felt nervous.

"Where have you been?!" The child exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger up to her as she raised her hands up in a defensive manner. She couldn't find a response, blinking her eyes a few times as she felt her mouth curl into a confused shape.

"W-well-"

"No excuses! Fairy Tail wizards don't get sick!" Before she could attempt to respond again, he turned his back to her and huffed in annoyance. The young blonde certainly was his fathers son.

"Stop harrassing the members, you little brat!" Makarov suddenly called out from across the room as he sat in his usual spot ontop of the bar. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance, looking towards the younger male as he glared back with as much sass as he did.

"You can't make me, old man." The kid mumbled, sticking his tongue out in a mocking manner.

It wasn't too long before Makarov's arm would grow and stretch, shooting across the room to bop the kid right in the head causing him to cry out as he rubbed the spot he hit.

"Have you no respect for your elders, Giro?!" Makarov hissed, the younger boy looking to the ground with guilt. Lucy couldn't help but feel a bit bad and she would smile at him and ruffle his hair.

"Master it's ok, he's just being a child." She spoke, the older man scoffing as he chugged down a mug of beer he held.

"He certainly has his father's vigor, that's for sure." Makarov soon responded as he wiped the contents from his mustache on his sleeve. Anyone that knew him would know the older man had tough love for his children, but he meant well. However, when it came to his great grand child he had a right to be extra tough.

"Giro, stop causing trouble and come help me dry some plates."

Lucy and Giro both would lift their heads and look to the bar once again, this time their attention being grabbed by Mirajane as she stood there casually drying cups and plates after washing them. Giro protested against it and only crossed his arms once again.

"Aw ma... that's too boring! I wanna go on a job!" He exclaimed excitedly, putting his hands into fist. He was quite eccentric when he wanted to be.

"Good boys listen to their mothers, besides you need to grow a little more before you can start taking them." Mirajane would smile towards her son in a way only a mother could. Mirajane was a great mother, after all she already was a mother to a lot of people at the guild so she had some experience.

Despite giving yet another annoyed grunt Giro would follow his mothers wishes and head behind the counter, helping her dry some of the plates and put them away for future use. He was rather helpful when it came to cleaning but she wouldn't let him handle the alcohol.

"I'm glad to see you doing better, Lucy." Mira started, "I was worried you know, you haven't taken a job in a while."

Lucy didn't hesitate to walk over to where she stood, a small smile plastered on her face.

"Heh I know, but I'm feeling much better now so I'll take as many jobs as I can!"

The statement was true, she intended on going on lot's of jobs to make up for what she had missed during her weeks of sickness. However, she wanted to go on the trip first before she went back to working, after all a vacation is always needed after a while of being sick.

"Hey Mira are you going to the resort too?" Lucy was curious to ask, seeing as Levy had mentioned she had reservations for a few people at the guild. Mirajane simply shook her head no before putting away some more glasses.

"I'm rather busy here, much too busy to take a vacation." She laughed a bit, closing her eyes and cocking her head to the side as she usually did. "Laxus has been taking a couple of S-Class jobs so I have to look over the little troublemaker.~"

Mira glanced over to her son who was rushing to dry the plates as if it was a competition and she couldn't help but smile lovingly towards the child. Lucy always took notice of that smile and it made her smile in return. She hoped she would be as good of a mother as Mirajane, if he had a chance.

The two mages continued on with their conversation, the guild carrying on as per usual as the day went on rather slowly.

However, the precious silence didn't last very long as the guild doors swung back open once again.

"We're back." The familiar voice belonged to no one other then the swordswoman Erza, Wendy and Carla followed closely behind her carrying bags of items from their job. Lucy turned around to see and quickly rose to her feet to greet her nakama.

"Erza! Wendy! You're back!" She greeted them all with a friendly smile, the three would look in her direction and quickly return it.

Lucy suddenly found herself in the tightest hug possible, Erza being the culprit.

"Lucy, I heard you were ill in our absence. Are you ok?" The worry in her voice was as geniune as ever and the blonde nodded as a sweat drop fell down her cheek.

"Y-yes I'm fine!" She choked out, the crushing hug from Erza taking out the air from her lungs until she was released onto her feet once again, Lucy coughing slightly.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." She placed an armored hand on her shoulder, smiling to her kindly as she tilted her head to the side. The scarlet haired female had looked different as well, she had cut her hair extremly short so that she woud be able to fight without it getting in her way and she seemed to look much more mature this way.

"Has Levy told you? About the resort?" Lucy questioned, however she had a feeling that she doesn't know yet due to just getting back. However, she thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Erza would nod, Wendy going off to greet other members of the guild.

"Yes in fact, I ran into her before I headed here." Erza said with a smile. "To be honest, I needed a vacation." The female would sigh as she ran her fingers through her now short hair, stretching with a groan soon after.

Lucy could agree with that, though her reasons were probably much different from Erza's. The mage had two kids to look after, on top of that both her and Jellal would take turns going on missions in order to earn some money and this time around it was Erza's turn.

Lucy wished she could do the same, if only her partner had asked her before running off to do a job for long periods of time.

Still, she was glad that she'd be able to go to the resort. She was also happy to know that there was a possibility Natsu would be back in time to go with her. She missed him.

"Hm, thats odd." The blondes thoughts were soon cut off when she heard Erza speak up once more, looking to her as she glanced about the room as if searching for something.

"Natsu isn't back yet?"

"No," Lucy replied. "He's been gone for weeks, the job must've been a hard one."

This only aroused a grunt from Erza, almost as if she had been annoyed with the dragon slayer. "Of course, such an irresponsible man. Leaving you ike this." She finally said, a sigh following.

Sure he had been leaving her behind more recently nowadays, but he had to have a reason right?

"It's ok, I know he'll come back." Lucy felt her cheeks turn a slight tinge of pink, thinking how he always came back for her would do this to her. Erza would simply smile knowingly before she turned on her heel and picked up the bags in which Wendy had left.

"Well, I'll speak to you soon. I must be heading home, Jellal must be pulling his hair out by now." Erza shook her head as she chuckled and she woud soon head towards the door, raising a hand as she left. Lucy was a bit started at the sudden departure, but waved back either way.

"See you later, Lucy."

"Yeah, bye!"

When the redhead had finally dissapeared outside of the guildhall, Lucy returned to her seat at the bar glancing down to her hands that rested calmly on the wood. Her stare would meet the pink mark on her hand and she smiled a bit, placing said hand on her chest. She would be lying if she said she wasn't worried, but she knew she shouldn't be.

 _"Come back soon, Natsu."_

...


	2. Off We Go!

The day had finally come, and it couldn't have come any slower. The sun rose over the horizon early in the morning, the birds outside of Lucy's apartment chirped loudly when they saw the giant light rise indicating it had been morning. It was about 9 by the time Lucy was waken up by a terrible wave of nausea.

"Dammit...!" She mumbled to herself as she sat up as quickly as she could from her warm bed, tearing the blankets away from her legs as she dashed towards her bathroom. She pushed the door open, the sound of the door hitting the wall could probably have been heard from the outside but she didn't care.

She had almost tripped if she hadn't had caught herself on the toilet seat, the wave once again hitting her as she heaved in a rather unattractive way. This was a lovely start to her vacation, but she was alone at home so she didn't care if she sounded like a dying walrus.

As the contents of her stomach emptied she groaned rather pathetically, her blonde hair going all kinds of directions and clinging to her face when she had lifted it up from her unpleasant endeavor. She felt a cold chill run up her spine causing her body to shake as she shut her eyes tightly.

"Guh..." She moaned, "I hate this so much..." She practically was to the point of crying, but she held back any tears, they wouldn't make her feel any better. She would look up once again, her hand reaching up to pull the handle of the toilet to wash away the disgusting sight before her.

Thankfully for her, she hadn't been expected at the guild until 12 so she had plenty of time to wash up and hopefully take a pill to take away the nausea.

She stood up slowly when all was cleaned up and she held her head hoping that the sudden movement wouldn't cause another wave to wash over her. When she felt it was safe, she slowly made her way to the tub and turned the knob to start her bath.

Holding her hand under the water, she couldn't help but glance up to the small window to her bathroom and listen to the birds chirping outside. They were soothing, and she was hopeful her sickness would go away.

It wasn't long before she had stripped away her clothing and stepped into the bathroom, letting the warm water wash over her body and cause her spinning head to calm down. She was thankful that a bath would help her for now and she stayed there for a good half hour before she had decided it was probably a good idea to step out.

...

The mage stepped out of the bathroom before long, her pink towel wrapped tightly around her curvy figure and her hair now wet and resting on her shoulders, some sticking to her back from the moisture.

"Phew..." She sighed when she situated herself, heading over to her dresser to grab some new clothes for the day. When she had gotten out she made very sure to brush her teeth and use mouth wash to freshen up after throwing up. She hated doing it, it was a terrible feeling and she hated how gross she felt after.

It wasn't doing her any good thinking about it however and she focused on what clothes she would wear. Since they would be going to a warm area she thought she would wear something breezy.

After a few minutes of getting dressed, Lucy would present herself in front of her mirror that sat in her room. She turned a bit to look at herself from every angle and suddenly a frown appeared on the females facial features.

"Waaah, Cana was right!" She whined, running her hands down to her stomach as the other rested on her hip. "I need to stop eating so much... I'm starting to look like Droy." She mumbled, putting her hands to her sides. Besides her supposed gained weight, she thought she looked rather cute.

She didn't wear anything too extravagant, she was the type of girl that would be ok going out in a pink tank top and white shorts and that's exactly what she wore, with flip flops to accompany the look and a small bag to carry her small things with the addition of the larger bag of clothes she packed earlier.

"Alright, I'm ready!" She smiled, grabbing the bag from the side of her bed heading towards the door. When she was sure she had everything, she made sure to take two pills to help with her sickness before heading out to the guild hall.

...

As she arrived at the guild she could see the majority of her friends grouped up as they stood at the two large doors with their own bags ready to leave. She smiled as she walked up to them happily, not showing any signs of her sickness.

"Everyone, good morning!" She spoke out loud causing them all to look towards her direction and greet her in their unique ways.

"Lu-chan you look a lot better!" Levy was the first to greet her, Lucy sighing in relief when she stated she looked better than the last time they had seen each other and that was a good sign. When she took a step closer to Lucy, the child in her arms cooed and reached for the blonde with a small hand.

"LuLu!" Garcelle, Levy's only daughter, smiled widely when she saw her favorite blonde mage walk up to them. Garcelle was always excited to see her, and Lucy was very kind to her and always gave her a little piece of iron to chew on.

The child had inherited her fathers dragon slayer magic but it would be a while before she was taught how to use it. Still, she thought it was adorable just how alike to Gajeel the young girl was.

"Garcelle! How big you are!" Lucy would always use a weird baby talk when dealing with children and this time it was no expection for her favorite little iron dragon. Not Gajeel, but the baby, of course.

After rubbing the child's head gently she would smile towards Gajeel whom simply gave a friendly nod towards her. Lucy and Juvia were really the only other people he didn't try to attack for touching his baby and that was good. Everyone else in Fairy Tail was safe, but still would get a glare every now and then.

"Yep she's bigger than Lily now." Levy teased, the exceed would feel a sweat drop roll down his cheek when she said this.

"I-in this form, that is." He quickly corrected, crossing his small arms as he floated alongside Levy and the baby.

"Lucy-san!"

"Lucy-san no sick?"

When she had turned her head to look towards the ground she was greeted once again by the sight of other children. These two were a year or so older than Garcelle but still younger than Giro.

"Ah, boys." The celestial mage smiled when she was greeted by the twins, kneeling down to ruffle their purple hair causing them to giggle and smile. "Yep I'm all better." she assured them, both seeming to like the fact that she was feeling better.

"Momma said you were sick." One started, the older of the two by a minute.

"But you ok now!" The other finished, the younger one.

Lucy would giggle as they finished their sentences, they were always doing that. If it weren't for the markings on their faces no one would be able to tell them apart very much aside from subtle differences.

Such as, Elias was the older one and his hair was always messy no matter how many times Erza tried to comb it down. Elliot, however, had slicker and more well kept hair and he was the more polite one of the two.

The markings would look a bit like beauty marks, Elias had his near his right eye meanwhile his brother had his on his left, fitting for twins with as much resemblance as them two.

"Aye, I'm ok now." She would reply as she stood back up straight, both of the boys smiling happy to hear that she was doing alright. As they spoke, Erza and Jellal both made their way over to the mage and watched them in amusement.

"They were worried about you." Erza was the first to speak, crossing her arms over her chest when she looked down to the boys with affection. Jellal simply smiled and watched them as well, not much for conversation but more of a silent observer.

"Papa, is Lucy-san coming too?" Elias questioned, tugging his father's pants leg until he and his brother were swept up into his arms.

"Of course." Jellal replied looking back and fourth to the two who simply looked to Lucy in with wide smiles.

"Mm hmm, and we're going to have lots of fun!" Lucy eagerly rose her fist into the air, a wide grin gracing her facial features after a while. It was as if she had forgotten of her experience when she woke up completely.

When she had put her hand down, Erza had gone to speak of things they were planning to do at the resort. She had a whole list wrote out, and the majority of it was visiting the towns local sweet shops to try out all the cakes as she sat near the ocean side. Jellal would laugh nervously as he listened to her, knowing he would get dragged along as they tried countless cakes.

Lucy listened for a little while, but soon she found her attention drifting away from the conversation while the eccentric redhead continued to ramble. Her eyes wandered around the scene for a little while, her mind set on finding a specific bundle of pink and messy hair but was greeted by nothing.

She stopped herself from sighing in disappointment. He wasn't back from the job yet? She didn't think it would take a lot but he had been taking more S class jobs for the past year. Still, she was hoping he would come with them to the resort but it would seem she would have to make due without him and the blue feline she knew so well.

After directing her attention to a now quiet Erza, she blinked as she realized a few others were missing too. "Wendy and Carla aren't coming?" Lucy then asked tilting her head in confusion.

Erza shook her head in response. "No, they wish to take some more jobs instead, which I don't blame them." She smiled closing her eyes looking proud. Wendy had become a lot stronger and Erza was proud of the young dragon slayer.

Lucy smiled slightly, agreeing that she was also proud of Wendy and how far she's come so she wouldn't be too upset she didn't tag along. It would have been fun to talk to her though, she was like a little sister to her.

"Everyone! We're sorry we're late!" The attention of the group had been turned to face two wizards approaching the guildhall doors, child in arm and bags toting behind them.

"Gray, Juvia! We were wondering where you guys were." Levy spoke first, crossing her arms as she looked towards the wrist watch Gajeel had conveniently worn. They would be late if they didn't move soon.

"Juvia is sorry, it was her fault we were running late!" The bluenette spoke as she smiled apologetically. They looked like they had just ran a mile to get here and they probably did to be honest.

"Juvia couldn't decide what outfit to put on Amaya." Gray corrected as he glanced towards his wife from the corner of his eye, both with sweat drops rolling down their cheeks and sighing when they came to a stop in front of them all.

In Juvia's arm was the sleeping child named Amaya, the little girl was only a year old and she had been sleeping soundly in the arms of her mother. Amaya was a quiet child and very rarely did she cry, in fact she had more of Gray's personality than Juvia's and she also had most of his looks. Her skin was pale, much like her mothers, but her hair was a lovely shade of black with hints of blue hues, not to mention it curled in all the right places.

"Yes I too have that problem." Erza spoke, rubbing her chin in a thoughtful manner as Jellal laughed nervously, he knew this all too well. Erza always wanted her children to look their best and so this would mean half an hour of picking out outfits.

Lucy covered her mouth and giggled, her friends were too silly for their own good.

"Alright I don't mean to stop your... _interesting_ ," Gajeel spoke, putting air quotes around the word. "Conversations, but if we don't leave now then we're gonna miss the ship to take us." He finished, his expression clearly showing his impaitence.

"Ah, you're right." Levy spoke up, looking around to make sure she had all their things that Gajeel had oh so graciously offered to carry. With everyone's attention gathered the script mage would lead the way to the dock that would take them to the island which the resort was on.

Everyone began to move, each having their own little conversations among each other as the kids already began to complain about how they were hungry. Lucy was the last to start moving, glancing back towards the guildhall as she frowned slightly.

"Lu-chan! Are you coming?" Levy called out, causing Lucy to snap her gaze back towards the others who somehow had taken off before her. She quickly took a hold of her bag once more and chased after them hurriedly.

"Ah, wait up!"

...

At the guild, things had been much quieter since the group had made their departure to the island an hour or so ago.

"Mama how come we can't go with them?" Giro, Mirajane's oldest son, questioned as he slung himself over the bar and groaned in boredum. He kicked his feet a bit against the back of the bar, causing Mira to look over to him with a disapproving look.

"Someone has to stay after to make sure you don't burn down the place, right?" She soon replied after she finished some paperwork and put it into a large binder which she kept hidden. Giro would pout, furrowing his eyebrows at the assumption.

"I wouldn't do that!" He dejected, pointing his finger towards his mother.

Once the binder was put away and Mirajane went back to cleaning up some dirty plates which were left from the last wizards to catch a meal, she shot him a look which reeked of 'oh really?'.

Giro stayed quiet, not too sure how to shoot back a response to that look. The boy grumbled a bit before jumping off the bar and landing on his feet. "Well when can we go to a fun place?" He asked, rubbing his head with a pout.

Mirajane looked up as if thinking, her mouth puckered up like it always did when she thought. "Perhaps when your father comes back from his job." She then said, placing a small poke on his nose causing him to scrunch it up and shut his eyes.

"I guess so." Giro lazily responded, walking out of the small door which led into the bar area and sitting himself on one of the stools instead to watch his mother do her daily chores.

As he sat down, Mirajane prepared a glass of apple juice with a straw so that he would be slightly less bored and more focused on enjoying the drink while she did her job. It was hard to keep him entertained sometimes, but she did a pretty good job with little resources.

Slurping away at the drink, Giro rested his elbow on the counter, leaning his head on his hand as he glanced around at the other wizards moving about and chatting away. It was boring without the funny people around to entertain him.

Without any warning, the doors of the guildhall suddenly burst open. The doors made a loud crash as they made contact with the walls behind them causing some of the nearby members to jump and yell in alarm. Giro almost choked on his juice when he was given the biggest heart attack of his little life, his alarmed gaze turning towards the doors as Mirajane simply kept cleaning up dishes casually.

"WE'RE BACK!" Two voices sung out in sync, members of the guild sighing when they were met with familar faces that everyone knew too well and some grumbled in annoyance at the heart attack they were given.

"Welcome back." Mirajane replied gleefully, her usual smile gracing her face when she looked over her shoulder to greet the newcommers.

"Natsu-san! Happy-san!" Giro practically sprung out of his seat when he realized just who it was. He almost knocked over his glass if it wasn't for Mirajane's quick hand to keep it still.

He dashed towards the door, lunging himself at the dragon slayers leg. "Fight me, Natsu-san!" He smirked evily as he dealt out some weak punches to his leg.

"You're 100 years too young to be wanting to fight Natsu..." Happy floated along side him, watching the kid with a nervous look.

"Mira, I think you lost one of these again." Natsu raised his leg as he gave Giro a glare, shaking it promptly after the look causing Giro to fall off and land on his bottom with an 'Ow!'

"How was your job?" Mirajane simply asked, ignoring the whines of her son whom was now standing and staring at Natsu in awe. Every one of the children of the guild looked up to a lot of the older members, but Natsu was one that awed all of them.

Natsu didn't say anything, instead he flashed a toothy grin as he unhooked his bag from his back. When it fell to the floor, the attention of the guild was brought to it as Natsu dug into it as if looking for something among all the items.

"TADAAAA!" He yelled out as he tugged something large from the bag and held it above his hand to display it to the guild. In his hands was the horn of an unknown beast. It was long and black, slick to the touch and the tip was sharp enough to impale someone with the wrong move. It was a miracle it fit into the bag, but this was Natsu we were talking about.

"Whoooooa!" Giro stared to the horn with starry eyes, hands on his cheek as he thought how cool the man before him was. The guild members chattered amongst themselves, impressed with the sight as well.

"That's almost as big as the one Erza brought that one time."

"Yeah, but that's Natsu."

"How did he fit that in there...?"

"Aye!"

Natsu simply continued to smirk as he showed off his prize from the job he had taken. Retrive the horn of the flame beast Evera was the task he was asked. Sounded simple enough, if you considered jumping into an active volcano to find the beast and then battle off it's very many heads simple.

"Impressive." Mirajane simply smiled, her son still in awe from the prize.

"Hell yeah! I can't wait to rub it into Erza's smug face!" He snickered, his gaze shooting around the room to catch sight of the redhead but was met with nothing but varying other shades from other members.

"I bet Gray-teme couldn't even get passed the train ride there!" He spoke again in hopes of being greeted with an ice attack, but again nothing.

His eyes blinked once, twice, and a third time in confusion.

"Ne, where is everybody?" Happy was the first to ask, Natsu stuffing the item back into his bag for safe keeping. When the pink headed man threw the bag over his shoulder again, he walked over to the bar to where Mirajane was standing, Giro following close by.

He plopped down onto a stool letting the bag fall to his feet once more as he motioned for Mirajane to slide him a mug. While she turned to get his drink, he looked around one last time. Giro was quick to sit next to him, and Happy would take a seat on the counter itself.

When Mirajane came over again she set a mug of alcohol in front of Natsu who then chugged it down as if it was nothing but water.

"Everyone left, about an hour ago before you arrived actually." The female finally said, a shrug accompanying the words.

"Ehhhh? Where the hell did they go?" He muttered in annoyance, he wanted to see his nakama after a long job and they weren't even there. SHE wasn't even there, either.

"On vacation." She simply replied, Natsu and Happy both raising their eyebrows in alarm.

"WITHOUT US?!" They screamed in unison, rage evident in their facial features.

"But Natsu-san you were gone." Giro chimed in, amused at their shocked.

Natsu crossed his arms shutting his eyes, mumbling a few soft words to himself as he spoke to himself about how they just left on vacation without waiting for him. "They could have waited." He then stated, Happy nodding in agreement.

"You couldn't have expected them to wait, Natsu." The white haired female said, raising an eyebrow as if wondering if he was seriously asking them to wait.

"Why not?" He asked.

"We didn't know when you would come back." Mirajane responded quickly, going back to drying some spare cups she had lying around. Natsu thought about this statement and agreed that it wouldn't have made much sense to wait for him, for all he knew he could've stayed for a month.

"True, where did they go?"

"Krard Resort." Mira responded with a smile. "They told me to give you this, if you came by when they had already left." From over the counter she slid him a small piece of paper.

He took a hold of it and unfolded it, eyes scanning over the writing that was scribbled on it.

 _Natsu, if you are reading this that means you came a little too late. We're already gone, but if you decide you wan't to come with us we'll be staying at Krard Resort for two weeks. You'll have to take a boat to get to the island, so it's up to you._

 _Sincerely, Levy and the others._

Other details such as the hotel name, room and other things were scribbled alongside it but once he read over boat he could practically feel the waves rocking him back and fourth and the nausea came quickly.

"Dammit, why a boat...?" He whined, crumpling up the paper as he shoved it into his pocket for later reference.

"Are we going to go, Natsu?" Happy asked the dragon slayer, already chewing away at a piece of fish Mirajane had waiting for him.

Natsu rubbed his chin, taking notice of the small stubble that had started to grow on it but quickly brushing away the thought. _I gotta shave, maybe get a hair cut too..._ He suddenly thought, running a hand through his hair which now had grown a little onto his shoulders.

"Natsu." Happy repeated.

"Oh!" He looked startled, as if being snapped back into his train of thought.

If Levy and the others had gone, then there was a chance that Lucy had gone with them, and after not being able to see her for a while he would want to go. Though, the boat ride was a little off putting and he just wanted to sleep...

"I wonder if Lucy is feeling better." Mirajane suddenly spoke up, peaking the pink haired mans interest. "She told me she had thrown up two times the other day. Poor girl-"

"Happy, let's go." Natsu stood up as he grabbed the bag once more. Happy had scarfed down the last of his fish and soon grew his wings once once more.

"Aye sir!" He spoke, flying to the door quickly.

"Take care." Mirajane would wave to Natsu, smiling in amusement. She knew that mentioning Lucy being sick would be enough to get him into gear.

"Wah! Why do you gotta leave so fast again?!" Giro yelled towards him, waving his fist. Suddenly, Natsu ruffled his hair and smiled towards the boy.

"Don't you have some training to do? You won't be able to kick my ass being so small." With that, he began to walk once more, raising a hand to bid everyone farewell once again.

Giro was left starry eyed, but snapped out of it quickly causing him to jump off the stool.

"I'm gonna go train, Mama!" Giro ethusically dashed out the door, and his mother simply sighed when he ran out. They were too alike, Laxus would certainly bop him in the head for admiring him more than he does his own old man.

"Jeez, what will I do with you both?"

...

 **A/N:** It's hard debating on whether Older Natsu should have his long hair like after the time skip or if he should just keep his original hair but slightly longer. Also stubble A++ idea.

Anyways, I hope you guys are liking it so far! I'm glad that it's more than my previous story so expect more!


	3. Krard Resort!

"Guuuuuhhhh..." From on board of a ship a very unpleasant sound could be heard from high on the deck. Natsu leaned up against the railing, groaning as his whole face had turned green ever since they had gotten on board. He would cover his mouth whenever he felt a gag coming on, and he couldn't have felt worse.

"Hang in there, Natsu!" His faithful companion chimed, floating next to him as he tried to soothe the dragon slayer with pets to his head but to no avail.

"Whyyyyy...?!" Natsu groaned once more, forcing himself to stand up straight as he stared into the ocean that swayed below him. He felt himself break a sweat as the sea mist hit his face. Most people would feel more at ease, but that just made him feel worse than before.

"It's too bad theres no other way there." Happy shrugged as he sighed, his tail swaying slightly.

"Why couldn't you just fly me there?!" The dragon slayer shook his fist up to the blue feline bearing his sharp teeth to him.

"Are you crazy?! I'd get tired! Besides, this boat has fish~" Happy gleefully rubbed his belly, licking his lips as he did.

Natsu would glance up to the cat, a deadly glare striking into his heart. "Why are you looking at me like that?!" Happy whined, flying away to hide behind a cart.

Natsu couldn't answer however, and soon he was back over the ledge and heaving his guts out. "Make it stoooooop..."

...

"Whoooooa!"

A few miles away on the island of Krard, the group of mages had found their way to the hotel they would be staying in at the resort. It was huge and it towered high up into the sky with many floors. Each room seemed to have a balcony for a beautiful view of the ocean and near the hotel was a large pool.

Palm trees lined up the walkway to the hotel's entrance and it was bustling with people all trying to relax and have a good time.

"When you described it I didn't think it'd be THIS amazing, Levy-chan!" Lucy was the first to speak up, arms held out in delight as she tilted her head up to stare at the building in awe. The children all had stared up to the building in awe as well, the twins eagerly running up to the entrance until Erza had called out to them strictly to not go ahead before her.

"I didn't think so either." Levy responded, eyes wide as she also stared up to the large sight before them. Gajeel would cross his arms, a smirk appearing on his face as he looked up as well.

"Not bad, shrimp. We can really unwind like this." He soon spoke, Lily standing near him as he crossed his arms as well and gave a nod of approval.

"Big!" Garcelle simply cooed, pointing a tiny finger up to it.

"Well we shouldn't stand around staring with our mouths open right?" Erza spoke up, walking ahead of the group as Jellal trailed behind her with their large bags. Most of the things were Erza's, but everyone knew she wouldn't go anywhere without bringing a lot of stuff.

"Erza's right, we haven't even seen the rooms yet." Gray spoke up as he followed the couple with Juvia following and Amaya still sleeping soundly in her arms.

Levy nodded, following along nudging Gajeel to bring along their things as he replied with a dissatisfied grunt.

Lucy slowly began to walk too, looking back ahead to her friends and keeping a hand close to her chest. She bit her lip as she felt a headache creep up onto the back of her head. _"Why now?"_ She thought to herself, trying her best to not show her discomfort in her face when she followed them.

As the group made their way into the lobby their amazement wasn't gone just yet. There was a large fountain in the middle of the room, chains around it so that children wouldn't be curious and jump into it. The windows were large and open, letting the sun and breeze sweep through the space to give off the sense of tropical. Along the walls were sofas that guest could rest on and bellhops waited to take things up to the rooms.

Levy was the first to make it to the check-in desk, the receptionist smiling towards the small female as he was supposed to.

"Welcome to the Krard Resort Hotel!" He spoke enthusiastically, Gajeel sneering at his annoying attitude. "How can I help you?"

"Hello! I believe we have a reservation, Levy Redfox." As Levy made the arrangements, Juvia had taken Amaya over to the fountain when she had woken up from the noises of the guest. She held out her arm to the water pouring down, Amaya's eyes glittering whenever the water would hit her skin. She loved the water, no doubt about that, so Juvia made it a point to let her play around it whenever she had the chance.

Gray stood with his hands in his pockets, his shirt was unbuttoned to expose his chest as it usually did and he watched his family with a very small smile on his face. It was a miracle that he was not nude already, but over the years he had learned to control the habbit of stripping down. However, it's not like he totally lost it, he just has more decency when he strips.

Erza had eagerly been chatting with Jellal over which sweet shop they would stop at first, and perhaps at what kind of icecream they would try when they went to the beach.

"Thank you." When Levy was handed keys to room, she began to distribute them among everyone. "E-enjoy your stay!" The receptionist nervously laughed under the weight of Gajeel's glare which was brought on whenever the man thought it was a good idea to flirt with his wife. One thing you shouldn't do, is mess with a dragon slayer's mate.

Lucy looked down to her key and smiled a bit, excited to see just how these rooms looked as she clutched onto it so that she wouldn't lose it.

"Convenient that your client could get us all these rooms." Gray said as he looked down to the key he was given and Levy smiled in response.

"Yeah, I'm glad it's enough for all of us." She replied, and when they had gotten everything situated she began to walk towards the elevator that would take them all to their rooms.

"How about we all get situated before we plan some stuff? I heard theres a buffet, let's all meet there!" The bluenette had made sure that everyone was listening and when everyone knew of the plan they all got aboard the elevator and pushed the buttons to the respective floors. Even the elevator was fancy, and it even had a music lacrima which played catchy yet annoying music on the way up.

...

"No way! They have two bedrooms in here!"

The group had all split up when they entered their rooms, and as soon as they did they were met by yet another amazing sight. The rooms were big, bigger than Levy had thought them to be, and they were clean and well decorated. The balcony's view of the ocean was breathtaking and the kitchen was actually big enough to walk around in. There was a giant vision lacrima in the room which streamed all kinds of channels and it couldn't have been more amazing.

Gajeel set down the bags of the smaller mage he called his wife beside the bed, groaning as he rubbed his back and scowled at the bags just for being heavy.

"Tch, useless bellhops..." he muttered and before long he had already made his way to the fridge to see just what they had stocked up in the room. Drinks, mini snacks and some fancy looking candies.

"Gajeel don't eat that, we'd have to pay for it." The bluenette grumbled as she watched him walk off, sitting on the large bed and letting Garcelle lie down next to her so that she could stretch her legs. Lily wasn't far behind and he had been exploring the place when they got there.

"Eh?" Gajeel questioned with a mouth full of the many snacks that had been cut down to nearly half since he got his hands on them. Levy simply sighed and let it go, maybe it'd be covered in the cost of the room that the client so graciously given them.

"We have to get ready for dinner so I'm going to go shower." Before long Levy stood from the bed, watching Garcelle chew on the blankets, smiling a bit. "So watch Garcelle alright?"

"It's too bad I can't join ya~" The iron dragon slayer smirked and flashed his fangs towards the mage, causing her to flush a deep red and Lily to cringe at the awkward comment. He did find them to be cute at times, but not when Gajeel was being a lustful animal.

"Just keep an eye on her!" She squeaked, running to grab a change of clothes and dashing into the bathroom and locking the door behind her.

"Gehe~" He snickered and soon walked out from the kitchen. He glanced to Garcelle whom had been content to just lay there and chew away at anything she could grab a hold of. "She doesn't think you can't handle yourself, does she?" Gajeel spoke towards the child who just smiled and giggled at her fathers voice.

He smiled in response and sat on the bed gently, a rare sight for him, and took her into his arms. "Tch I'm hungry..." His stomach didn't do a good job at hiding that fact and it grumbled loudly causing Garcelle to jump in alarm at it.

"Gehehe got scared, did ya?" He laughed, Garcelle pouting a bit before she also began to laugh.

"I hope you don't intend to eat any of the iron in this room, Gajeel." Lily spoke as he hopped onto the bed, looking to Garcelle who had began to reach for his tail with glittery eyes.

"Well who's to say I won't?" He grumbled, sticking his nose up into the air.

"Levy will get angry with you." The exceed spoke simply, closing an eye before he glanced to him once again from the corner of his eyes.

Gajeel would stare at the wall, closing his eyes and letting a small grunt fall from his lips. "True. We don't need that do we, tiny?" He sighed, looking down to the small child in his arms whom just reached to tug on his hair.

Suddenly, he began to sniff the air and his nose scrunched up in annoyance. Oh god, it was unmistakable. HE was here, or at least he was getting close.

"So the Salamander actually decided to come, huh?" He spoke to Lily, looking out the window towards the scent that came from the ocean nearby.

"Well you couldn't have expected him to stay when Lucy was gone right?" Lily spoke once more, a knowing smirk appearing.

"Heh, that's the truth."

...

"Wow... such a big room..." Lucy took a step into her room after unlocking it, looking around the spacey area in fascination. Such a big room wasn't needed for just one person, but at least it was nice and roomy.

When she closed the door behind her, she set her bag on the side of her bed and immediately fell back onto the bed with a plop. Her hair had been sprawled all over the sheets and she simply sighed closing her eyes.

Another pulse went through her head and she brought a hand up to rub her temple once more. Those pills didn't do much to sedate her pain except for a couple of hours but it was soon back again. She turned her head to look at the pink bag which was propped up on the side of the bed but she wouldn't dare take more. It was much too dangerous to take more than two in such a short time.

The mage would ignore the pulsing of her brain for now and kicked off her flip flops. She crawled onto the bed a bit higher until she reached the pillows and fell down once more. They were very soft, softer than hers at home, and they were already pulling her to the realm of sleep.

That is, until a knock was heard at the door.

"Who is it?" She groggily asked, rubbing her eyes trying to wake herself up so that she wouldn't fall asleep so quickly.

"It's me, Lu-chan! Are you coming to the buffet?" She asked through the door, her voice sounding muffled but she could make it out just barely.

Lucy thought to herself for a second, wondering if she should make the effort to eat or just stay in bed. Right now, the bed idea was sounding more appealing to her and she sighed slightly.

"I'm sorry Levy-chan I'm a little tired I think I'll take a nap and eat later." She finally responded and when she heard an 'OK' she flopped to her side and pulled the covers up above her head.

The footsteps walked away from her door and there was silence once again. Still, even in that silence, Lucy couldn't sleep.

"I may have to see a doctor after all..." She muttered to herself under the covers, the heat from the blankets not helping her at all as she began to sweat and her breathing became heavier.

"DAMN THESE COVERS!" She yelled and tossed around, attempting to throw them off of her form and sitting up once again panting.

When she had cooled down she laid back down. She decided to keep the covers off for now, and closed her eyes as she tried to bring herself to the realm of sleep once again.

...

Lucy had thought she she only slept for a couple of hours, but before she knew it the next day had rolled by faster than she expected.

"Lucy! Are you awake?" Knocks pounded on the door, causing the blonde to sit up and look towards the door with tired eyes. She looked awful, dark patches under her eyes from waking up in the middle of the night, paler skin then normal and her hair in all sorts of directions.

"Y-yeah..." She managed to reply, taking a step onto the cold wooden tiles beneath her and making her way to the bathroom.

"We're going to the beach! You can meet us downstairs if you need to get ready." The voice spoke, it sounded a lot like Gray's and she nodded silently to herself even though he couldn't see it.

"S-sure... I'll be there in a few." She smiled weakly and before long she disappeared into the bathroom and turned the handles to start the water.

The mage tried her best to hurry so that she wouldn't keep her friends waiting, and she managed to clean up as best as she could. She fixed her hair and tied it up into a long ponytail which went down her back, her clothes now being replaced with a pink frill bikini and shorts to cover the bottoms until she got to the beach.

"Yosh... I'm ready." She said to herself and she grabbed a pair of pitch black sunglasses to hide the look in her eyes. She knew they'd have to come off eventually but this would make sure she avoided any questions about her health.

She grabbed a big filled with items such as sunscreen, magazines and, in case she needed it, some medicine to take along with her and she was soon out the door, locking it behind her.

"Lu-chan there you are!" Levy was the first to speak out when Lucy had appeared downstairs. The bluenette had been sporting a cute blue and white polka dot bikini and the top was filled out considerably with her new found chest. She wasn't yet to Erza or Lucy's size of course, but having the baby aided in their growth.

Gajeel was next to her, his mane held back from his face in a pony tail as he wore plain black shorts. Lily had also worn black shorts with white stripes and Garcelle wasn't left out as she wore a small white bathing suit with floral patterns.

"Juvia had begun to wonder where you were." Juvia looked to Lucy whom had just rubbed the back of her head nervously. The water mage was also ready for the beach, even though she wasn't much of a swimmer she didn't miss the chance to woo Gray with her rather showy bikini. It was dark blue and had some jewels on it that glittered in the sunlight and you couldn't even tell she had just had a baby.

"Sorry sorry... I overslept." Lucy muttered, looking to a clock that hung in the hotels lobby.

"You missed the buffet, the sweets were amazing~" Erza had raised up a fist, practically sparkling as she remembered the delicious sweets she pilled high onto her plate. Beside her stood her two boys in their shorts, both tugging at each others hair and arguing amongst themselves on who would get to the water first, Jellal doing his best to calm the bickering children as he whore a plain black tshirt along with his gray bathing shorts.

Erza's bikini had drawn the most attention from wandering eyes and it left little to the imagination. She stood proudly in a bikini that was hasitily tied up with the strings. The color matched her hair, and the design was simple and white.

Jellal wasn't too keen on having random guys stare at his wife, but he made it a point to stand as close as possible to give people a hint on that she was indeed taken.

"Yeah heh..." Lucy was dissapointed to have missed such a great sounding buffet, but it would've been better if she didn't go. Chances are she could've just thrown it all back up later on and she didn't want to go through that.

"Well we can't stand around crying about it, let's go." Gray spoke up, Amaya staring blankly towards Lucy as he began to walk towards the beach. The others followed, excitedly chatting about how great the beach must be compared to the hotel.

"Oi, blondie." Gajeel had stayed behind, Lucy walking up along side him and looking up when she heard him call her.

"Eh?"

"You really should be careful." He spoke, giving a glance to her that somehow said 'I know something you don't.'

"What are you talking about?" She asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"I'm just saying it's obvious you're not well," he began, starting to walk to catch up with the group causing Lucy to follow as well.

Lucy stared at the ground, so he could tell huh? No surprise, dragon slayers have that weird sense that something is amiss.

"It really is nothing, just a flu is all. I'm taking medicine for it." She replied almost instantly, hands balled up as she looked determined to get rid of the sickness.

Gajeel frowned and obviously was not content with that answer, but just let it slide. "Eh whatever, just don't say I didn't warn you." With that, he had caught up to Levy and Garcelle, the baby reaching out to him so that he would carry her the rest of the way.

The words rang in her head head. _You should really be careful._ It's not that bad, he's overreacting... She would take medicine and it would be gone in a day or so.

Right?

...


	4. Fun In The Sun

**A/N:** Before we start I'd like to thank those of you who have been reviewing and telling me what you think! I realize some things are still up in the air, but I assure you there are more chapters coming to explain~

I'm not too sure how many chapters I'm planning on doing for this one, so I'm just going as I write :D Things start to get SERIOUS.

Without further aideu, here's the next chapter for Just A Flu!

...

"S-sir...? Are you alright?"

At the desk of the resort, a very frightened man looked towards the guest in front of him. The guest looked just about ready to die, groaning and leaning against the desk he was standing in front of for support of his weak legs.

"Natsu! Get a hold of yourself! We're here!" Happy exclaimed as he shook his dragon slayer friend, Natsu simply repeating another groan when he was shaken again. It was no surprise why he was like this, after all even after getting off of transportation it takes him a while to get used to ground again.

The receptionist attempted to speak to him once again, this time poking him in his arm. "Do you need medical attention...?" He asked, a bit scared for his health.

It was as if a switch was flipped and Natsu lifted his head to stare at the man, all sense of sickness gone from his expression as he blinked his eyes a few times.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine." He spoke, scratching his head slightly as he looked around like nothing had happened.

"He is now..." Happy started only to get flicked in the forehead by the dragon slayer in question. "Itaiiii..." He whined, rubbing his forehead and lowering himself to the floor next to his feet.

When he had regained his senses, Natsu glanced back to the worker behind the desk. He leaned against it once more, but this time as he observed the decor of the area.

"Wow this place is nice. How did Levy manage a place like this?" He asked, whistling in amazement at how nice it looked. Happy had nudged Natsu in his leg to get his attention back to the matter and he snapped out of it looking dead at the man once again, the worker almost breaking into a sweat from the pressure of his stare.

"I'm here to see my nakama, it should be Levy Redfox or somethin' like that." He muttered, waving a hand nonchalantly.

"Are you with the party...?" The receptionist asked with a nervous smile.

"Eh? There's a party?" Natsu spoke, his eyebrows raising in confusion. Happy sighed and managed to hop onto the surface of the desk, putting a paw to his face in defeat.

"No, Natsu." Happy said, "In this case 'party' means group! So yes." The cat turned to look at the worker, raising a paw and smiling at him. It confused him that the cat had more common sense than the man before him but he didn't comment on it.

"Right, directed me to give you the key to this room." After some typing away at a computer looking device, the receptionist dropped a key into Natsu's open palm.

"Oooooo!" Natsu looked down to the key and blinked a few times. "Awesome! I'll go barge in there right now and surprise everyone!" He smirked, bearing his sharp fangs causing the worker to jump in alarm and hide under the desk.

"E-enjoy your stay, s-sir!" He said through stutters, shaking slightly failing to mention that they were out at the moment.

"Let's go, Happy!" Natsu chimed, Happy hopping off the desk to follow him towards the elevator.

"Aye, sir!" The feline shouted out his signature phrase, both of them heading into the elevator pushing away some bellhops who had almost tried to offer help with his bags but refrained after seeing just how weird the pair was.

"These guys will be the death of me..." The receptionist practically fell to the floor, his hat falling off of his head and his eyes swirled.

After an annoying elevator song later and Natsu almost blowing the speaker up from it, the duo had made it to the floor they needed to be. They looked to the number on the key once again before finding said door and slamming the door open after unlocking it.

"SURPRIIIIISE!" They both said in sync, but their expected 'Oh look who it is!' was instead replaced with silence.

The two looked around, walking further into the room before closing the door behind them. Happy floated around the large area, eyes wide with amazement.

"Awesome! This place is HUGE!" Natsu practically threw himself onto the large bed he was greeted with, noting how it had been made ever so nicely. He sat himself up on the mattress and looked towards the huge television lacrima before him with sparkly eyes.

"NO WAY! A TV!" He laughed happily, grabbing the remote that had laid on a side table and clicking through the channels it gave. While he flicked through channels, Happy had made his way into the bathroom and looked around.

"Wooow even the bathroom is nice!" He called out to his friend who had gotten bored with the TV and was now rummaging through the fridge, stuffing his face with whatever he found.

"Really?!" Natsu questioned, but had most of his attention on the snacks.

The feline explored around some more, turning to face the mirror when his wing had knocked over a bottle of pills onto the floor. He jumped startled, the bottles cap falling off from it being put back on hastily and pills spilled onto the tiles.

"Ooops..." He squeaked, paws over his mouth until he lowered himself to pick them back up and slip them back into the bottle before they were noticed. When he had finished doing the deed, his curiosity got the best of him and he read over the label.

 _"Migrane pills?"_ He thought, blinking slightly wondering who would need these. It was probably Gajeel, with how angry he always got he probably needed these to help subdue the headaches he got from yelling at him. Then again, they haven't been around to give him a headache so that couldn't have been it.

Placing the pills back up on the sink, his eye caught another familiar sight. A pink towel, and next to it a pile of familar clothes. "Eh? These are Lucy's things?" He muttered to himself but was brought back to reality when he heard his name called out from the outside.

"Happy you ok?" Natsu asked from the kitchen, his hunger only being subdued slightly as he cleared out the fridge in a matter of seconds.

"A-aye!" Happy replied quickly, leaving the things as they were and floating back over to where Natsu was.

"Well looks like they aren't here." Natsu said when he saw Happy floating to him, rubbing the back of his head with a sigh. "I wonder whose room this is, though."

"Eh? You can't tell, Natsu?" Happy asked almost surprised, I mean her stuff was everywhere even her pink bag and clothing that had been thrown in the bathroom.

Natsu thought of that once again, and instinctively sniffed the air. When he approached the bed once again it was as if the smell of strawberries and vanilla had overtaken his senses and he let out a breath of air with a wide smile on his face.

"Luce~" He smiled, happy to know that this had been the room which Lucy was staying in. By the looks of it no one else had been sharing the room with her and he was happy to know that his mate was safe even without him around to keep others at bay.

"I saw her stuff in the bathroom and immediately thought it was Lucy's!" Happy spoke up with a smile as well, also glad to know they would be staying with her. He missed barging into her home with Natsu, and this was something like it. "Where are they, though?"

Natsu took the question as cue to sniff around some more, his nose taking him to the bathroom and then back to the door where he noticed everyone elses scent as well. "Looks like they went out, figures." He grumbled annoyed, he would have to track them down for the second time.

"Wah I hope they went to the beach! I brought my shorts just in case~" Happy snickered and pulls his green back over his shoulder, digging around until he pulled out his blue and white swimming trunks.

"Prepared, are we?" Natsu couldn't help but smile at his feline friend and looked back towards the door. "Well, guess we don't have a choice." He shrugged and without thinking he threw off his bag and set it next to Lucy's, also digging out his swimming trunks.

"Let's go scare the crap outta them!" He yelled, lifting the shorts into the air and laughing maniacally. Happy jumped up in excitement, both not hesitating to throw their things off and changing into the shorts quickly.

...

"Lucy-san over here!"

"No, no! Over here!"

"Boys I can only keep up with one of you at a time." Lucy laughed a bit breathlessly, the female pretty much had covered half of the sand in her footprints from chasing the twins around the beach. The two of them had both gone different directions, throwing Lucy off of one of their tracks and causing her to spin in circles for the most part.

"Ah, I never knew how relaxing eating cake by the ocean could be." Erza sat on her beach towel as she held a small plate in her hands. Her other hand was holding a fork and she was happily digging into a small slice of vanilla cake with a big strawberry on top.

Jellal watched her with a chuckle, lifting his hand up to wipe away some frosting that had somehow made it's way to the side of her mouth. Erza blushed slightly at this, turning her head away with a huff. So tsundere, and oh so cute.

"T-thanks." She simply said, stuffing her face with cake to hide her embarrassment causing Jellal to smile again. What a cute wife he had.

"Looks like the boys are giving Lucy a heard time huh?" He spoke up again, watching as both of them chased the mage this time causing her to squeal.

"Yeah, but Lucy certainly has more energy today." Erza replied, already finishing the cake and lowering the plate down onto her towel for later disposal.

"True, I heard she's been ill lately. Stubborn girl doesn't enjoy doctors much does she?" The wizard questioned, Erza shaking her head no.

"Not at all, she's terrified of them really. She'd rather amputate her arm than go to a doctor. Admirable, really." Erza spoke with a glint in her eyes, her hand rubbing her chin as she thought.

 _"Admirable?"_ Jellal thought with a sweat drop rolling down his head, but still smiling as he did.

Close by to the two wizards, Juvia had sat with Amaya as the female attempted to bring some sand together to create a sand castle.

"Juvia must beat Gray-sama!" She spoke with fire in her eyes, Gray next to her making a slightly larger sand castle.

"It's not a contest, Juvia..." He spoke, but she was much too busy pilling sand onto the mound she called a castle. Amaya sat inbetween Juvia's legs, her gaze turning to the ocean as she sucked away at her pacifier.

"It's a contest to Juvia!" She replied with her hands balled up into fist. They had gotten much more comfortable with competition and now Juvia took every chance she could to one up the ice mage. It could've been she wanted to impress him, but she took it too far sometimes.

Gray simply sighed, but in his expression it could be noted that he was having a good time. A smile never left his face as he watched his beloved water bending wife pile the sand higher. As crazy as she got with competing, he couldn't deny she looked cute when she was trying hard.

"Stooooop!" On the other side of the shore, Lucy had begun to slow down her running and she began to pant coming to a halt at the edge of the water. She rose a hand up to the boys as if asking for a time out, her hands on her knees as she bent over and tried to catch her breath.

"Aw, she got tired!" Elliot pouted, Elias whining as he crossed his arms over his chest in disapproval.

"How can you two have so much energy...?" She gasped, looking back to them both as they simply smiled towards her.

"Round two!" Elliot was the first to speak, dashing towards Lucy once again at full speed.

"NOOOOO!" She held out her arms and soon was running for her life once again as the twins chased her down.

...

"Gajeel, you're supposed to toss the ball back over." Levy pouted as she put her fist on her hips, her stance cocking to the side in a sassy pose. She had been standing in the shallow part of the water, Gajeel a few feet away and Lily had been busy watching over Garcelle whom was also busy building her own sand castle, or more like mound.

"I don't see the point in this game." The dragon slayer grunted, but he did as he was told and tossed the blown up ball into the air before hitting it back towards her. She didn't respond to his statement and instead hit it back with as much force as she could. She didn't do this without having to hop out of the water however due to her height.

"Gehe, it's cute how you have to jump to reach~" Gajeel teased, once the ball came back towards him he hit it extra hard. Levy pout in annoyance and punt it back just as hard.

"Shush!" She snapped.

"This is fun and all," He spoke once more ignoring her demand for him to shush. "Though watching you prance around in the water like that is getting me excited~" With a smirk he had managed to get the script mage to blush three shades of red before a puff of smoke escaped her ears.

"GAJEEL!" She exclaimed, hoping no one heard his naughty remark. He couldn't care less and instead his tongue traced over his lips in a lustful manner causing Levy to shrink into the water in an attempt to cool down.

Thankfully, there had not been any children around but a few other guests blushed lightly when they overheard the conversation. Gajeel stopped his teasing for a second as he watched the ball drift off into the ocean and he treaded after it once it washed back up on the shore, leaving Levy to wallow in her embarrassment.

"Lookin' for something?" A voice spoke, the ball being swept up into the hands of a familiar man. Gajeel sniffed the air and his smirk soon turned into a frown, glancing up as he was greeted with a wide, cocky smirk.

"Finally managed to haul your ass over here, huh?" Gajeel stood up straight, his smirk returning once again.

"Aye!" Happy chimed in as he appeared behind Natsu with a grin, Lily taking notice but he didn't move from his spot with Garcelle.

"I'm just happy to get off that damn boat..." Natsu grumbled, Gajeel visibly shuddering at the thought of the boat.

"Don't even mention that..." Gajeel replied, he also endured hell on the way to the island and no doubt he would when they left. Though that was something he would face when they got to it, and he snatched the ball from his hands.

"'Bout time though." Before Natsu could react, Gajeel had tossed the ball behind him to where Levy had been standing now.

"Oi!" She complained, waving her fist towards her husband before huffing and grabbing a hold of the ball once more.

"Ohhh, Levy! Yo!" Natsu called out to the bluenette whom had looked up in alarm before smiling and waving as she treaded out of the water and back towards the two dragon slayers.

"Natsu! You made it." she gleefully stood next to Gajeel, the ball on her hip and her arm holding it in place. Happy also waved to Levy, making her smile and wave back to the feline.

Garcelle had clearly taken notice of the arrival of Natsu, her hands reaching towards the three as Lily watched her curiously.

"Nashu!" She cooed, giggling a bit when she was swept up into the air by said wizard.

"Whoa, you're huge now!" The first words to come out of his mouth caused her parents to sweatdrop. Garcelle didn't mind however and she simply waved her arms and legs about as she was held up into the air above him.

Despite most of the arguments that had broken out between Gajeel and Natsu, he had a soft spot for his daughter. She had a lot of magic potential, he could feel it.

"It hasn't been too long since you've seen her." Levy commented, but he was much too invested in talking directly to Garcelle. Despite her being a child, he spoke to her as if she was a grown adult and that was partially why most of the kids liked him. Then again, Natsu had always been good with kids, even when Asuka was younger.

"I know but she's still big." He replied to her and before long he placed the smaller dragon slayer onto his shoulders, holding her legs so that she wouldn't fall as Garcelle played with the mess of pink hair.

Levy simply smiled, Gajeel surprisingly not doing anything from the action. It must be their weird bond they had, but he did like when Natsu interacted with Garcelle. In fact, if anyone was going to be teaching her how to control her magic it would be Natsu and himself.

...

"We're gonna getcha, Lucy-san!" The pursuit of the twins had not let up, the chase led them far from the group as Lucy began to slow down her running once again.

"Come... on... you two..." She gasped between breathes, eventually she came to a complete halt and leaned over again, her hands on her knees as she shut her eyes and tried to get a hold of her breath.

Her vision had begun to get foggy but she turned her head to make sure the twins had still been close by.

"Come on, Lucy-san!" Elias walked to her side, patting her leg to try to get her to start running again.

"It's fun!" Elliot smiled as he went to her other side, patting the respective leg.

She gulped and tried to speak up, but she couldn't really find the words when her head had begun to feel light headed. She stood up slowly but not without wobbling from side to side slightly. The two had taken note of her odd behavior and blinked in concern.

"Lucy-san?" Elliot questioned.

"What's wrong?" Elias asked, brows furrowing into worry. He glanced around, taking notice of how far they had gotten from everyone else. They were practically on the other side of the resort by now.

"Ne, mama and papa are far..." Elias spoke again, his brother nodding as he took notice. The two were rather smart for their age and this was clear.

"It's... ok..." Lucy spoke up, patting both heads of the younger males before she turned on her heel and staggered back to where everyone else had been. "Just... need... pil-"

When she took a step, she had lost her balance and soon fell onto the sand. Her face had planted into the ground rather roughly but she didn't even yell out in pain. The impact caused her sunglasses to fall off her face and revealed her tired eyes once more. She was much too dizzy to speak up and before long she had closed her eyes and slipped off into unconsciousness.

"LUCY-SAN!" Both had yelled in unison, rushing to her side and shaking her arm in an attempt to wake her up.

"Go get mama and papa!" Elliot looked up to his brother, Elias blinked the tears in his eyes away before standing and nodding.

"OK!" Before long, he ran back in the direction they came, Elliot staying by Lucy's side and calling out to her to try to wake her up.

"Lucy-san..." He spoke, words trembling with his speech. He was worried, a child so young had no idea what to do with an unconscious person after all and all he could really do was wait.


	5. News

**A/N:** Boy this one was a doozy! I hope you guys like the drama so far :D Hold onto your pants because there's more in store...

Also, I apologize for any typos or errors in grammar. I try to proofread and edit all I can but it's hard being the only one lol. Anyways, enjoy!

...

"Lily I didn't know you were coming!" Happy had wandered away from the group whom had come together. Gray took notice of Natsu after Levy and Gajeel did and it ended up into yet another of their famous fights. Juvia didn't get involved, but Amaya watched the small brawl with curiosity in her eyes. Erza was the one to stop the two, giving them both a good whack over the head and made them both sit down like obedient dogs.

"Of course, I wouldn't have stayed behind." Lily responded, standing up from his seat and dusting off his now sandy pants in annoyance. He hated sand, it got all over his fur and was just unpleasant.

"True, you came to watch over Garcelle huh?" The blue exceed smiled, looking over to the child whom was back in Levy's arms and was giggling at the shenanigans of the Fairy Tail wizards.

"Yeah, I don't mind it." Lily nodded once and his glance went back to Garcelle as well.

When Happy had gone over the group, he took notice of some of them missing and turned back to Lily.

"Where is Lucy and the twins?" Happy spoke a bit worriedly, the vision of the bottle of pills on her sink was burned into his vision and he couldn't help but have a bad feeling about it. Natsu would have taken notice of it too if he wasn't busy arguing with Gray or cowering from Erza.

"Good question." Lily responded and he looked around the area, not catching a glimpse of purple or blonde hair that could come from them. He could sense something amiss as well, but couldn't quite put his paw on it.

"Gray-teme! Why are you here?!" Natsu hissed as he sat on the ground, his hand rubbing the large bump that was given to him by Erza who was watching them closely. Gray growled back, also rubbing his large injury in anger.

"I was invited, unlike you, fire breath!" Gray snapped back, both emitting a deadly aura but it was soon extinguished every time Erza took a step closer to them as if she was going to hit them again.

"I was invited in case you forgot, dumbass!" Natsu stood once again, this time not touching the ice mage in fear that Erza would harm them again. Gray did the same, and instead just looked away in annoyance.

"Now, now you two..." Levy laughed nervously as she waved her hands, standing between the two who were ready to blow any minute. When the two seemed to have calmed down, Levy glanced around the area around them to look for the twins and Lucy in confusion. They've been gone for a while, in fact last she saw they were a few inches away from the water.

Erza took notice and soon she was looking around for the boys with concern. When she and Jellal were about to turn to look for them, a small voice was heard among all of the chattering of the guest on the beach.

"MAMAAAAA!" It called out, frantic and tiny but very noticeable to the trained ears of a parent. Everyone had caught a glimpse of the voice and soon were greeted to the sight of Elias dashing towards Erza and Jellal and quickly clinging onto their legs.

"Elias! What's happened?!" Erza furrowed her brows, worry now washing over her facial features and everyone tensed up as she kneeled down to comfort the boy. Elliot and Lucy weren't with him, surely if something had happened Lucy would've been able to dispose of the trouble with no problem. Natsu had put two and two together and soon turned to face the small boy, a scary glint in his eyes that was bursting with concern.

"L-L-Lu-" Elias managed to stutter through his sobs, tears flowing down his eyes as he was clearly frightened. Jellal's expression had gotten more serious and he rubbed the back of his child to calm him down.

"What happened to them?" He asked, hoping he could get a better response from the child.

"She fell!" Elias exclaimed, fresh tears rolling down his puffed up cheeks once again. Everyone looked baffled, fallen? That didn't seem like much to cry about but then again, he was still a child so 'fell' could have a lot of worse connotations.

"Where is she, Elias?" Erza asked, standing from her kneeling position and carrying him in her arms with ease. When he had pointed a small finger towards the direction he came from Natsu didn't wait to dash off in that direction. He was gone by the time he said she fell and it was as if he disappeared into thin air.

"Let's go too!" Gray spoken and soon everyone had followed after Natsu as best as they could, using Elias to point them in the direction the female was in.

...

"Lucy-san, wake up." Elliot was still kneeling by Lucy's side, he had turned her onto her back and began to wipe away any sand that had gotten on her face from the impact. Her sunglasses were folded in his hands, and he tried to use nearby water to splash on in an attempt to help her wake up. Once again, they were smart for their age.

She didn't budge, and she laid almost lifeless on the ground, hand fallen to her side and not even a twitch of her fingers could be seen. Her expression was anything but peaceful and instead was as if she was getting stabbed in the gut ten times.

It was obvious she had broken out into a cold sweat, and her hair stuck to her face as she did.

"LUCY!"

Elliot looked up startled when he saw the pink haired mage quickly run up to them. He didn't hesitate to kneel down by her side, sliding an arm under her body to lift her up into a sitting position.

"Lucy! Answer me!" He shouted, but she didn't budge in the slightest at the sound of the distressed mans calls.

Her head would have fallen back limp, but he kept her propped up so that she was snug against his body. Lifting a hand up to move some hair from her face, he couldn't help but take notice of the bags under her eyes.

"Fuck…" He muttered, thankfully Elliot couldn't hear him swear. "What happened, Elliot?" Natsu asked, turning his head to look at the younger boy.

"I-I don't know she just got tired and fell asleep…" he said quietly, lowering his head as if it was their fault for it. "Gomen ne, Natsu." He sniffed, wiping his eyes.

"It's not your fault." He assured, shaking his head no and never taking his stare off of Lucy's face. The last time he had seen her she was smiling brightly and waving him goodbye, he cursed at himself for leaving for so long.

"Natsu!" More voices called out and soon the whole gang had gathered around her unconcious body. Levy was the first to kneel down beside her and put a hand to her neck to check for a pulse.

"We should get her to the doctor." She quickly stated but Natsu had already been well ahead of her when he stood carrying her bridal style, her arms still hanging at her side.

"I'll take her." He said simply.

"We can go with you." Erza said and by the way she said it, it was more of a command then a suggestion.

"Juvia shall take the children back to the hotel." She spoke, Gray and Gajeel agreed with hesitation as they turned and headed back for the rooms. Levy, Erza and Jellal accompanied Natsu to the hospital with Happy following close by.

…

Warmth, that's all she could remember.

Softness followed after, and she could hear voices chattering in quiet hushes all around her. She wanted to open her eyes, she wanted to move her arms but she couldn't seem to get her body to agree with her thoughts.

"Sir, please…." One voice said.

"Calm down!" Another, this time familiar.

It took a while but Lucy could feel some of her senses coming back to her. Her hand twitched and she soon managed to slowly open her eyes to be greeted with a bright light.

She blinked her eyes some more, her vision clearing up with every blink until she could see a ceiling. Furrowing her brows she forced herself to sit up, pushing down on the soft bed beneath her until she had sat up completely and rested her back against a hard surface.

She felt weird, and when she had looked around she noticed something attached to her wrist. When she followed the cord she could see it ran up to a lacrima, one which was recording the flow of her magic along with her heartbeat and other things she couldn't make out.

 _"Wha…?"_ She thought, looking down to herself taking notice of the clothing she was wearing. A blueish white gown had been put on her body, and judging by the breeze she felt on her back it had to have been one from a hospital.

Oh God, a hospital. She frowned and put her hands together, fiddling with her thumbs nervously coming to the realization that she was indeed in a hospital room.

"Ah, you're awake." A voice had made her snap her head back up to see where it was coming from. Her eyes landed on a woman who was entering the room, clipboard in her hand and closing the door behind her.

"Uh…." Lucy began to speak, not sure what she was going to say but she had to say something. She must be the doctor, by the looks of her white coat and the clipboard in her hands. She looked like an elder woman, probably in her late twenties. Her brown hair was curled and pulled up into a bun and she wore a warm smile.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked again, pulling a spare chair that was in the room up to the bed in which Lucy laid in. She felt her anxiety go down just a bit seeing how kind the woman who had been talking to her was.

"Well, I'm not sure." Lucy replied, her eyes wandering to the door once again wondering why it was so quiet. She was sure she had heard Natsu, and knowing him he would have at least been found sleeping by her side.

"Heh that's alright, are you experiencing any pains?" She asked, and she began to write some things on the paper which was clipped to the board. She went over to the machine which had been showing random numbers and wrote those down as well.

Lucy shook her head no in response, she was actually feeling rather fine for the most part. Sure her head had felt a bit light headed but she was told that it was normal soon after.

"That's good." The woman smiled and soon sat back down, crossing a leg over the other one in a dignified manner. An awkward silence had taken over the room, and Lucy opened her mouth to speak once more.

"I was told that you fainted near the beachside, and your friends brought you up here. It's lucky they did." She added the last part on and looked up to Lucy from beneath her brows, more serious this time. Lucy began to feel scared, and she squeezed her hand with her other one in an attempt to calm her down.

Soon, the woman brought her hand up over her own and Lucy flinched at the sudden contact. "What's wrong with me…?" Lucy felt almost compelled to ask. She knew she was sick, but she honestly didn't think it would be as bad as fainting out of nowhere. The woman removed her hand, and pushed up her glasses, a small smile on her face.

"Nothing, and then something." She stated, Lucy feeling confused now. "I can give you two answers to that question, ."

The blonde blinked quite a few times, did she want to know now?

With a deep breath, the doctor spoke again with a cheerful smile. "Congratulations, you're pregnant!"

Silence.

It was about two minutes when Lucy spoke up, opening her mouth and then closing it as if debating on what to say. "That makes a lot of sense, actually." She simply said, almost calmly. That is, until her eyes went full on bug eyed and she jumped up in the bed.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" She soon screeched, people who had been walking past the room outside looking to the door in confusion. The doctor widened her eyes as well from the sudden outburst, but cleared her throat to maintain her professional behavior.

"It's just what I said, you're pregnant." She replied. "When running the usual tests, we noticed it and no doubt about it you are with child." She lifted up papers and even had the tests to prove it.

Lucy stared at the woman for a long while, sweat rolling down her cheek as she processed everything. How?

"B-but you have to have SEX to do that and I'm pretty sure I haven-" She paused, raising a finger before lowering it again. Her face suddenly burst into red shades and she lowered it down. "O-oh…" That's right, she had forgotten about that night. The night before Natsu went off to his next job, the night that they… Oh.

The doctor couldn't help but blush at the mention, despite her being professional the reaction of the female was not expected in the slightest.

"Still though, it's been almost a month since then there's no way that…"

"A month? , it's been three. At least, that's what the test have been picking up." The doctor corrected and Lucy could almost feel another fainting spell come on. That's right, the only person whom she's ever slept with was him and even back then she was feeling sick but why was it coming on so strongly now? Could she have missed a period and not even had noticed from how sick she was?

"That's…." Lucy started, eyes beginning to swirl and the doctor had directed her to lay back down on the bed once again. Lucy let her head fall to the side, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to collect her thoughts. When she opened them once again she looked to the hand that had been hooked up to the machine and she felt her cheeks blaze up once again. It was a weird feeling, she felt happy, yet scared, relieved but then stressed.

"It's alright if you need time to process." The doctor started, but she had glanced down to the paper once more. "There's more, though."

Lucy turned her head towards her again, she wasn't exactly sure she could take anymore news.

"Wait, before you continue, " Lucy began. "Where are my friends?" She asked, the question still lingered in her head and honestly she could use their comfort.

"The pink haired man was getting a bit rowdy trying to see you, so we asked your redhaired friend to calm him down. It ended up with her taking him away so that you could rest." The doctor replied with a sigh, remembering how Natsu was ready to burn the door off the hinges to get to her.

Lucy felt a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth, but she stopped it. Maybe it was better this way, she wasn't sure if she could handle telling them the news now. She was still scared, what would they think? Would they even think it was Natsu's? After all, she hasn't slept with anyone else before and he was the one that deflowered her in the first place.

"I see…" Lucy began, a sigh escaping her lips until she calmed down some more. Whatever the doctor was preparing to tell her, she had to relax so that she could take the news be it good or bad.

"The other thing, is that the symptoms you've been experiencing are not normal." She said with concern in her voice. "We haven't dealt with very many dragon slayer offspring, however… with the last cases, the chances for death at birth are very high."

Lucy could feel her heart stop. Death at birth? Would the baby be alright? She knew just how sick Levy had been when she was pregnant with Garcelle but she wasn't nearly as bad as Lucy was. Could it be due to their different levels of magic…?

"You see, with a child holding that much magic it needs to feed off it's mothers magic to sustain itself causing the mother to become ill. Your case has been the worst thus far." She continued, Lucy trying to catch her breath.

"Do not panic." The doctor quickly spoke, making sure Lucy stayed with her and she snapped her gaze back to her face. "We will try our best to monitor it, but you must stop taking any medicine you have been taking in the past and you mustn't exert your magic." She put extra emphasis on this part of the explanation. "No magic, whatsoever."

Lucy tensed up, her mind flashing to her keys. She won't be able to summon them and she wouldn't be able to go on jobs when she got back. That's unfortunate, but if the baby is at risk then she would do anything, even give up her magic for a few months. "I understand." Lucy spoke, although she had many emotions going on right now she was just overwhelmed.

"Good." The doctor replied with a smile. "I'm sorry you have to be hit with all this at once..."

"If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call me. I'll run some more tests, and I'll get back to you. For now, please rest." With that, the female rose from her seat and headed towards the door. "I will let your friends know that they're welcome to visit you on visitor hours. Take care."

When she opened the door and stepped out, Lucy felt a warm liquid run down her cheeks. She rose her fingers up to touch her cheek and it was soon coated in her tears. She had no idea why she was crying, but she had begun to breath heavier either way.

"What am I going to do…..?"


	6. Hesitation

**A/N** : Before I begin, I'd like to clear up dates since I write these on a whim and so I don't remember to keep track of the time.

Lucy has been pregnant for 3 months, they have done the frickle frack long before that but it's been protected. The last time her and Natsu *cough* had time alone was a month ago before he left for his job. Natsu is a little nugget and being as clueless as he is he probably has been too busy worrying about Lucy to remember not using a condom (3 months ago).

So when Natsu left for his job she had already been three months pregnant and neither one of them had noticed.

So, with that being said, enjoy!

...

It all had made sense to her now. The sickness whenever she woke up, the headaches and especially how her clothes have felt tighter on her. She could see the belly clear as day now despite it still being small, and as she sat in her bed Lucy ran a hand over her stomach gently. She's never been pregnant and not for a second did she ever think that it would come so soon.

All of her friends have had children and gotten married, Mirajane being one of the first to have gotten pregnant and soon everyone followed soon after. It was as if she was the last one, and it kind of scared her. No, scratch that, it really scared her at this point.

She stared at the ceiling as she pulled her sheets over her to cover her belly and she got lost in her thoughts. What would her mother and father have thought? Getting pregnant with a man that she isn't even married to, let alone in a relationship with?

Sure, they both knew they loved each other and the connection they had always shared never had to be spoken of because they just KNEW. Of course, Natsu became a little clueless at times, but he still had feelings for her. They were on odd terms, a sort of 'it's complicated' status and she wasn't sure if she was fine with that or if she wanted more. Sure, she would love to get married, but she was scared that if she told him he would feel forced to marry her and that's not what she wants at all.

She wanted him to propose on his own free will.

Closing her eyes, she tried to shake her mind of those thoughts and go to sleep as quickly as she could. She wanted to sleep for a long time, at least until she got her mind under control. Using a small button to lower the lights in the room, she laid her head on her pillow once more and tried to relax.

 _~Flashback: 1 month ago~_

"Why am I even surprised anymore?"

What a lovely thing to walk into, you would think that when you lived alone that you would be greeted with silence and peace whenever you entered your house but this was not the case for Lucy.

It was never the case for Lucy.

Instead, she was always greeted by three things. One, a half naked Gray looking through her work in progress novel in curiousity. Second, a red haired fiend rummaging through her underwear drawer as she wondered how any of these things could be considered underwear. And lastly but not least, was a snoring beast known as Natsu on her bed, at times being accompanied by Happy.

This time, it was the third option and the snoring was extra loud today. Lucy made her way into her apartment, closing the door quietly and heading over to her bedroom where she would see the beast in question happily sleeping away, the blue feline nowhere to be seen this time.

She sighed, unhitching her key holder and setting it gently on the dresser next to her bed before she opened up a drawer to look around for some pajamas. As she pulled it opened, it squeaked slightly and Natsu grumbled and turned around in the bed making a mess of her blankets. She couldn't help but frown, she had just made those when she left.

It was as if she was trying not to wake a sleeping dragon from within a tower and honestly that's what it could be compared to most accurately. In the past she wouldn't hesitate to kick him right out the window next to her bed but instead she let him be. He looked cute and peaceful when he was sleeping and that would probably be the only time she would see him like that.

When she had pulled out her favorite pair of pajamas, a light green one with stars scattered about it, she headed towards the bathroom to start her shower. In the span of her doing that, Natsu surprisingly didn't make a sound and didn't wake up not even for a second.

"Waaah, that's better~" Lucy hummed when she finished her shower, rubbing her wet locks with the towel that was placed around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and when she was done drying as much as she could she picked up a brush to run it through her hair in an attempt to untangle it. It was a good thing she didn't use the hair dryer or else Natsu wouldn't have been able to sleep. That'd teach him to fall asleep in other people's homes when they aren't home.

When she had finished combing her hair, she placed the comb back onto the sinks edge and opened the door of the bathroom. Flicking the lights off, she quietly made her way through the dark bedroom and over to her bed trying not to hit her foot on any foreign objects.

"You're done already?"

Lucy almost screamed at the sight of a fully awake Natsu sitting up in the bed and staring at her as if he was going to jump on her and attack her. She gulped, stopping in her tracks and his gaze never left hers.

"You were awake...?" Lucy found herself whispering, and Natsu nodded closing his eyes finally giving Lucy room to breathe once again. If it was one thing his stare could do, it was make her stop in her tracks and forget what she was doing.

"Come here." Natsu suddenly spoke, it sounded rather demanding but since she knew Natsu well it was anything but. She sighed at his pushiness and started to make her way to the bed once more, placing a knee on the mattress and causing it to sink under her weight until she sat firmly next to him.

He didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around her waist and before long he pulled her down to lay next to him, a yelp escaping when she was yanked rather forcefully.

"Jeez, Natsu! So rough!" She whined and looked up to his face which was now only inches apart. She felt a little nervous at this point, usually he'd be cracking jokes and being silly but he was extra serious, almost like he was whenever he was about to kick some villains ass, and she didn't know whether to be concerned or scared.

As if out of nowhere, Natsu buried his face into her long golden locks. She could feel him sniffing around, and she felt her cheeks heat up from the odd gesture. What a weirdo.

"Can I ask what you're doing?" She simply said, despite her voice sounding calm she looked as nervous as ever. It's a good thing the room was dark and there wasn't any light except from the illumination of the moon that shined through her window.

"There's something different about you, Lucy." He spoke almost sounding confused and he lowered himself down to her neck to sniff some more, this time his nose brushing against her exposed skin. She rose an eyebrow, what the hell was he talking about?

"Eh? You're saying my scent isn't like it usually is?" She asked, she didn't quite understand but all of the dragon slayers she's encountered had told her she had the same scent. Strawberries and vanilla, she felt flattered and glad to have such nice and cute smells and she was worried something different about her shower could've changed her scent.

"Yeah." He replied, and stopped to look at her intently. It was as if he was trying to figure it out, but it just wouldn't come to him. "It's something different... augh I can't figure it out." He complained and he simply sighed and closed his eyes keeping his forehead against her shoulder as he hugged her around her waist.

Lucy wasn't sure how to comfort him, I mean she really didn't know what he was talking about. It must've been a dragon slayer thing, so she left it be. "Well whatever it is, deal with it later. I'm trying to go to sleep." With that, Lucy had turned her back to him and closed her eyes as she wrapped the blankets around her.

And again with the sniffing, this time she could feel him sniffing around her back and she couldn't help but squirm and giggle. She was ticklish and he wasn't really helping her trying to fall asleep. "NATSU! S-stop that!" She squealed and turned onto her side so that she would be facing him and she simply huffed.

Natsu glanced up to her puffed up face, and blinked twice. He wasn't trying to keep her up, he just wanted to figure out just what the change of scent was about. "Sorry." He apologized but he was still relentless and he started to sniff the air once again. He looked down to her neck and sniffed there again, this time he lowered to her chest and sniffed there for a bit before she nervously protested. Before long, he stopped at her stomach and he widened his eyes a bit.

"Eh?" She watched him, he would not take his stare off of her stomach area and she started to feel a little self conscious. "W-what is it already, dammit?!" She exclaimed and wrapped her arms around her stomach hunching over in an attempt to hide herself.

"I still dunno." He gave up, and lifted himself once more so that his head would be on her spare pillow. She looked up to him with a huff from her nostrils and he soon put his arms around her head hugging her cheek up against his chest. She muffled in protest, but he continued to keep her hostage there.

Natsu didn't sleep with a shirt, in fact he slept with nothing but his boxers and that really embarrassed her sometimes despite how many times she had seen him naked. She could feel the heat radiating from his skin and her heartbeat began to run ten times faster than before.

"Guess I'll just ignore it for now." The dragon slayer sounded defeated and before long he nuzzled his nose into her hair once again and this time placed a kiss on the top of the female's head. Why the hell was he being so affectionate all of a sudden?!

"Natshu!" She muffled from his chest and he blinked his eyes open and looked down to her. She met his gaze with her own and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. When she had his attention she lifted herself so that she could be heard regularly and soon their noses touched from the close proximity.

"What's with you all of a sudden? You're all cuddly." Lucy couldn't help but find it weird, sure he was always clinging to her in his sleep but to be fully awake and aware of it was either because he wanted to tease her or some other weird reason, this time it was the latter.

"I dunno..." Natsu sighed and he swiftly moved his hand to take a hold of her chin between his fingers. He pulled her in quickly and placed a kiss on her lips before pulling away and looking down to her. Lucy was as red as Erza's hair at this point and she couldn't find the words to respond to the gesture.

"Wh-" She began to speak but he was quicker than her.

"I guess I just want to get as much Lucy as possible before I go."

With that, Lucy looked up to him with realization. He was going on a job soon, and most likely it was going to be the next day. She could literally feel her heart sink, he was going to be gone for another long period of time and she was going to do nothing but worry and be lonely. It's not like he hasn't done it before, but it still hurt every single time.

"Oh, another job?" Lucy asked but she sounded as sarcastic and uninterested as ever causing Natsu to raise his eyebrows in alarm. She was never this sassy.

"I thought that I would save up money for a few things, I could even help you with rent." He spoke softly, trying not to anger her sensing she was already angry with him and not wanting to make matters worse.

"I appreciate it, but I'll just go on a job myself to pay it off." With that, Lucy turned away from the dragon slayer and laid on her back closing her eyes and pretending to already be deep into sleep. It wasn't like it was easy being so mean to him, but she couldn't help it. If he didn't realize that she wanted to go with him then he deserved it.

Even though she didn't really mean that.

Lucy was going to try to slip off into sleep whether he liked it or not, but she soon felt the mattress make a small sound and the weight on the bed shifted slightly. Did she anger him and was he going to leave? In a panic, her eyes flew open and her sight was blocked by said wizard hovering above her.

His hands had been on both sides of her head, hair falling over his face as he looked down to her and kept her trapped in his little body cage.

"I'm sorry, Luce." He began, looking apologetic as his words sounded. "It's a really dangerous S mission... I know you've had some headaches and stuff lately so I didn't want you to get even sicker on the job."

Lucy's expression had softened considerably and she found it hard to stay mad at him. She closed her eyes again and smiled in an understanding way. "It's ok, I guess I understand your reasons." She responded and simply sighed accepting her fate.

"How about I make it up to you?"

"Hm?"

When Lucy finished her simple question, she could feel his large hands run up the sides of her body, his fingers lifting her shirt up slightly with the quick motion and she blushed even more than before.

She tried to stutter out his name, but still she couldn't bring herself to when he began to place warm kisses on her neck. It felt good, strangely better than the other times he did the same gesture and she was quick to breathe just a bit heavier.

"Just relax, this is my parting gift~"

 _~End flashback~_

Her eyes shot open, wide and in shock as she laid in the dark hospital room. Why that kind of dream?! Why now?!

Shooting herself up into a sitting position she quickly flicked the lights back on and turned to grab a glass of water that had been given to her by the nurse. Chugging it down faster than any other drink in her life, she sighed as her heartbeat slowed down.

"Ms Heartfilia." A voice at the door began, the door opening as the doctor had appeared once again. "You have some guest." She smiled, and when she had stepped out of the way she saw all of her friends gathered up to come see her.

Lucy couldn't help but smile, despite how miserable she looked at the moment seeing them cheered her up quickly. "Everyone!" She called out and soon they had gathered around her bedside.

"Lu-chan we're so glad you're OK!" Levy started, smiling with her eyebrows lowered in worry. She gave her a quick hug, wiping away any tears that dare to prick at her eyes before pulling away.

"Jeez what happened back there?" Gray asked, crossing his arms with worry also evident in his gaze. Juvia had stood near him with Amaya, just as worried as everyone else.

Gajeel didn't speak, instead he simply closed his eyes and shook his head in a disappointed manner causing Lucy to frown. She knew that he warned her to be careful,but she honestly had no idea that would happen. Thinking back to that night, perhaps what Natsu was smelling wasn't her new shampoo but her pregnancy...? Did Gajeel know too, and would Wendy have taken notice?

"Luce..." The voice was louder than the rest, and soon Lucy turned her attention to the dragon slayer that stood by her side. He quickly took a hold of her hand, bringing it up so that he could place soft kisses on her fingers as a sign of worry.

It was as if as soon as Natsu spoke everyone took it as a sign to give them privacy.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, not letting go of her hand and using his thumb to stroke over the pink emblem on her hand. She blushed at the gesture and glanced down to their interlocked hands. "I don't know… fine, I think." She began, sounding unsure. She felt better that's for sure but that was only physically, emotionally was another story.

"What did the doctor say?" Erza spoke up, the question had been on everyone's mind and they all turned their attention to her as she tensed up. Natsu had taken notice of it, her hand squeezing his slightly and he continued to stroke it with his thumb to let her know it was alright.

It wasn't, though.

Lucy glanced down to the bedsheets, refusing to make eye contact with any of her nakama. What would she tell them? That all these symptoms are just leading to her possible death and possible loss of a child she didn't even know she was carrying? Oh and by the way, surprise I'm three months pregnant!

As she thought, everyone began to feel slightly worried. She didn't feel very confident, and they were hoping to hear a simple 'its fine.'

"She told me it's just a very bad flu I contracted on a job." Lucy then said, everyone blinking a few times before they started to buy it. "She gave me medicine to make it go away, so it'll be fine." She smiled, a fake smile but one nonetheless.

 _"You idiot!"_ She argued with herself on the inside but on the outside she was calm and collected. _"What in the world are you doing? You can't just HIDE a pregnancy, baka!"_

"Of course." Erza nodded, rubbing her chin. Who would think that even the great Titania would believe that? "It would explain your headaches." She then stated.

"And I guess your throwing up..." Levy added, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Natsu looked up as he thought, shutting his eyes and his gears were clearly in motion. "R-right! Of course!" he exclaimed, nodding his head quickly. One side of her wanted one of them to say 'that's not right' but the other part of her just wasn't ready to tell them. It wasn't right to hide it from her friends, but she freaked. What else was she supposed to do? She just... wasn't ready for any of this.

"Juvia is relieved to know that it is just a flu." The blue haired mage spoke, smiling widely as everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well then, when you get better we'll definitely have to have extra fun at the beach!" Gray smirked, and everyone began to chatter with excitment. The children hopped around the room excitedly happy to know that Lucy will be able to run about with them again. In the midst of the chattering and bustling of her friends, Lucy could feel the twinge of guilt turn into a full on gnawing at her conscious.

She could feel someones eyes on her and she turned her eyes up to see the iron dragon slayer stare at her with that look on his face again. That knowing look, the look that just says 'you can't hide this forever.'

 _"I know already."_ She thought as if she had been speaking to him telepathically but she might as well have been when he turned away to cross his arms in annoyance.

"When you get out of this place I'll take you somewhere nice." Natsu soon turned his attention back to her, not that his attention really left aside from him talking to Gray about how he wasn't going to have any 'fun' with her, but that's besides the point.

"Yeah." She simply replied, smiling with her eyebrows lowered in slight sadness. It was good she still looked tired and so her sadness could be mistaken for just fatigue.

With a smile, Natsu leaned forward to place a kiss on her cheek. It was soft and loving, the warmth from his lips giving her some color back to her skin and everyone in the room (Aside from Gray and Gajeel whom just let it be) watched with blushes on their cheeks. They always did this when the two of them would do something like this in front of them, they were just such a cute couple.

"Thank you for coming everyone." Lucy put a hand on Natsu's cheek with a wider smile before she glanced up to everyone else once again. "I'm a little tired though... so I'm going to try to get some rest." Natsu frowned at this, he hardly just arrived and he was only able to see her when the damn hospital said it was OK to. If it was up to him, he'd climb through the windows to see her after hours but he wouldn't want to risk being banned from seeing her.

"Oh of course! You heard her, we have to let her rest." Erza commanded, turning to face everyone with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. Everyone did a bit of a whine sound, but soon they all bid their farewells.

"Get well Lu-chan!" Levy said, giving her another hug before she headed towards the door with Garcelle looking over her shoulder to Lucy.

"Juvia wishes you well, too." Juvia spoke, and Amaya simply stared towards Lucy as she always did when she had gone.

"Don't take too long, it'll be boring without you." Gray soon spoke and waved before he followed Juvia.

Erza and Jellal had left when saying their goodbyes and the twins did not leave until they too had given the female each individual hugs. The only ones whom had been in the room now were both of the dragon slayers, Natsu being stubborn when it came to leaving and Gajeel trying his best not to throw him outside of the room.

"Hurry up, Salamander!" He hissed, Natsu glaring in response before he ignored him and kept staring at Lucy.

"Will you be OK alone?" He asked, his voice held some guilt from being away for so long only to come back to her being so sick. She nodded, a smile which told him to calm down with just one look following after.

"Of course, I'll be up and walking in no time! Just wait for me, OK?" With that, he hesitantly let go of her hand and stood from the seat he had taken beside her. With a simple wave, he forced a smile and turned to head towards the door, Gajeel being quiet the whole time and following him out.

When Lucy thought the coast was clear, she leaned back and rested her head on her pillow. She closed her eyes and soon brought her hands up to her face, covering it with a loud sigh.

"You shoudn't have done that." A voice suddenly spoke and Lucy's heart almost ripped from her chest.

She sat up and soon saw that the voice had come from Gajeel who had not left just yet. She gulped, and she knew that she was in for some serious scolding.

"I know but you have to understand-"

"I get it, you're scared." He stopped her, his back to her but she could feel his expression even though it was hidden. "Though he will find out eventually, he's already picked up in the change of your scent."

She looked down to her hands, she knew that was what it was that night. She won't be able to hide it very long, but she didn't want to, she just needed time to figure out a good time to let everyone know the good and the bad news. She rubbed her eyes, trying not to whimp out and cry but she was getting close to the edge.

Gajeel turned to face her again, his arms still crossed and his eyes had been closed as he spoke to her. "His instinct to protect you and give you attention is heightened at this point." he started once again, "He may be dense but it won't take him long to put two and two together when he sees the signs." He looked down to her very small bump under the covers and she quickly put her arms over it to hide it.

With a huff, he closed his eyes again. "I'm just saying, he won't be very happy." When he concluded his statement her breath hitched in her throat. She knew he wouldn't, but she needed the time.

"B-but... I may die..." She whispered, her body now trembling at the thought of dying at birth. It terrified her, no one ever told her that she would be dying at birth and with her first child. "I-I need time to try to figure out h-how I'll bring it up..."

Gajeel said nothing and he only looked outside of the window to watch the sun which was now setting behind the beautiful ocean view. It was serene and peaceful, if only Lucy could feel that.

After a while of silence, Lucy continued to stare at her hands and she a small thought rose up in her mind.

"Levy got sick like this too, didn't she?"

Silence.

"Yeah." Gajeel responded before long.

She treaded more carefully with the topic, but continued on.

"She almost didn't make it either, right?"

Even more hesitation, a twinge of pain flashing onto his face as he remembered the day she gave birth to Garcelle. She was ill, her small body was frail, she was deathly pale and the amount of pain she was in could only be described in the twisted expression she wore. If it wasn't for Wendy's magic during the whole process she wouldn't have made it and that was only barely.

"Yeah."

"So, if she was in my situation, wouldn't you understand her hesitation with telling you?" Lucy asked, hoping that he would get it this way.

With more thought, he simply shrugged with a small grunt. "I suppose so." he replied, but soon glanced back up. "Either way, don't wait until it's too late..."

She nodded and she understood that very well. She won't wait until it's too late, but for now she just wanted to sleep and forget about this for as long as she can.

"Well, don't stay in bed too long, Bunnygirl."

Lucy looked up to see Gajeel raise a hand as he left the room for good now, and she finally felt like she had released the breath she had been holding back.

...


	7. The Worst News

**A/N:** This ones a little shorter than the others ToT I'm sorry!

But for now, are you guys enjoying the drama?! I know I am, and we're just getting started *evil glint* ahuhuhu.

Enjoy~

...

"How are you feeling?"

Lucy felt like she heard this question a thousand times, and it was starting to get on her last nerve. She knew everyone was just trying to make sure she was doing OK, but was this what came along with being pregnant? She wasn't sure she wanted all these people worrying for her.

"I'm feeling fine." Lucy responded, sitting up on the hospital bed that she had been stuck to for a few days now. Finally, the time has come for her to be able to go back to the hotel and relax with her friends. Although she was happy to be able to move around and finally go back to her vacation, she was afraid of the news she had learned not too long ago.

She was pregnant, and if that wasn't good news then the news she learned after it would be worse. The risk for death was high with this kind of pregnancy, and she's been on edge ever since those words were spoken.

"Good, good." The doctor which had been caring for Lucy in the past days was standing near her, moving her stethoscope around her chest to listen for her heartbeat as a last minute check-up. When she finished, she took them off from her ears and let them hang around her neck before she gave Lucy a smile.

"Well everything seems to be looking better." She stated, Lucy sighing in relief. Of course this doesn't mean her risks are gone, but at least for now she was OK. "I'd like for you to make regular visits to the obstetrician when you get back from your vacation, if anything goes wrong or you feel ill do not hesitate to come back."

Lucy listened to the woman carefully, nodding and taking mental notes to schedule an appointment when she got back. She was just thinking of asking Wendy for help, but that would risk her telling her friends about her pregnancy before she could.

"Alright, I will. Thank you..." Lucy smiled kindly at the woman who simply smiled back, putting away her notes and clipboard before she lifted her glasses up her nose some more.

"So..." The doctor began, causing Lucy to blink in confusion. She didn't really talk much aside from professional things so she was curious as to what she was going to say.

"I take the pink haired man is the father, no?"

As soon as she heard those words, Lucy began to glow a bright red. She had a keen eye, after all she must have taken notice when Natsu had been holding her hand and kissing her cheek the other day.

"W-well-" Lucy began, her eyes darting around the room to avoid any eye contact. She's been doing that a lot lately it seems. "Y-yeah... you're not wrong..." she finally stated.

"Ahh how did he take the news?" The doctor asked with glittering eyes and Lucy simply looked away as more sweat drops rolled down her cheek.

What would he tell her? That he didn't react at all because she hasn't told ANY of her friends? Of course not, she didn't want to get scolded by a doctor too, Gajeel was enough.

"Fiiiiine..." She drawled out, laughing nervously at the end of the statement causing the doctor to blink in confusion but brush it off.

"Luce!" Suddenly, the door of the room burst open and on the other side was a frantic Natsu, her friends close behind him as Erza kept her grip on the dragon slayers shirt collar.

"Calm down!" Erza hissed and behind her the twins had been giggling at them both. Lucy saw them all and smiled warmly, happy to see them all here again but the feeling of guilt would not go away.

"Let go of me, devil woman!" Natsu glared at Erza but she was quick to return a glare that was ten times worse than his and caused him to shut his mouth and gulp.

"Well it looks like you're ready to leave." The doctor stood aside as they made their way to the bed where Lucy sat at, greeting her with happy looks and worried statements. Lucy would smile at the doctor who had been making her way to the door when she was stopped by a nurse who had frantically whispered something to her.

While everyone was distracted asking Lucy how she was feeling or where she wanted to go when they had left, the blonde saw as the doctor turned to look at the papers then back to her with concern in her eyes.

There was bad news again?

"Everyone." The doctor began, making her way back to the group and with every step she took Lucy could feel her heart about to burst out of her chest. She held her breath, not wanting them to hear what she was about to say. "May I have a moment alone with Ms Heartfilia?" was all the woman said and Lucy felt a weight lift off her shoulders.

"Eh why?" Gray started.

"Whatever it is, can't you say it with us here?" Natsu replied soon after Gray's remark and everyone started to nod in agreement.

The doctor closed her eyes, as this was something that should be discussed between the paitent and the doctor. "I'm afraid I can't, it's confidential."

"Please everyone." Lucy began, her voice small at first but everyone had heard her and could tell that she didn't want them to be in the room. "I'll be out in a few, just let her tell me this alright?" With that, Lucy gave them all a confident smile and before long, they decided they would wait patiently outside the door.

Everyone but Natsu, of course.

"I'm staying, so whatever it is you'll have to tell me too." He commanded, his gaze hard and never faltering. Lucy furrowed her brows as she knew this would happen. She took his hand into her own, causing him to take his stare off of the doctor and onto her.

"Natsu," she started. "Please?"

Lucy's eyes held all the convincing he would need, and he sighed despite not wanting to leave her side. He was getting tired of this, but he knew as soon as she got out of here he would be able to stay with her as much as possible. With a nod, he placed a soft kiss on her palm and let it go before walking out with everyone else to wait outside.

When the door closed, the doctor would raise an eyebrow at her.

"He could have stayed, this would be something he would want to hear as well." She said.

Lucy shook her head, knowing well that if it was any kind of bad news Natsu would flip out. Especially considering if it was something about a pregnancy he knew nothing about yet.

"No, trust me... it's better this way." She spoke, rubbing the back of her head. She looked back up to the doctor, ready to hear what other news she has to bring.

"Well?"

"Well, we ran more tests." The doctor began, sitting in the seat that was near the bed as she did when she first told her she was pregnant. Oh boy.

"And...?" Lucy asked, sounding more hesitant for the answer then curious.

"It's a bit worse then what I had predicted," The doctor began with a frown on her face, what did she mean by _worse_? How could it get worse?

"Your magical power... in the span of you being here you have lost nearly half of it." She continued, and suddenly Lucy understood why she had been feeling so sleepy, so tired.

"It's the baby, isn't it...?" Lucy asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"At this rate, you and the baby will..."

She didn't even have to confirm it with words, Lucy saw it in her eyes and it was as if a switch had been flipped on. Chocolate eyes began to water up, the tears already pouring down her face as Lucy covered it in an attempt to stop it.

"Why..." she croaked out through sobs, trying her best to stay silent as her friends were right outside the door. She wasn't a bad human, was she? She lived a good life, she protected her guildmates and at time the very world from extermination. Why did her child have to be cursed like this? Why did SHE have to be cursed like this?

"Wh..." Lucy sniffed, rubbing her eyes as the tears didn't stop. "What can I do?"

The doctor sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing her own eyes so that she won't ruin her professional image. "The best we can do is give you magical supplements. It will sustain you and the baby for the months to come." She attempted to sooth the sobbing female, rubbing her arm as she simply took her fate.

"I cannot say if your due date will stay as is or if it will come earlier, whatever the case, I wish you the best of luck."

When the time comes, it'll be between her and her baby. There's no way she was going to let her child die, they deserved a chance to live. Clutching her hands into fist, Lucy managed to force herself to stop crying and wiped her eyes dry.

"Thank you." Lucy simply thanked the doctor, sliding off the bed and slipping into her shoes they had given her to walk out with. "I promise, I'll do everything to protect this child... death won't stop me."

"You are quite brave, Lucy Heartfilia... that man is lucky to have such a strong willed girl as yourself."

Lucy couldn't help but smile, though her smile weak it was genuine. "I guess he is."

With that, the doctor had given Lucy what she needed to send her on her way. Lucy clutched the medicine she had been given close to her chest and soon stepped out of the room to greet her friends in the lobby.

...

"It's about time!" Gray was the first to call out when he saw the blonde walking down the hallway towards the group. Everyone turned their attention to her, and soon smiles were brought to their faces as they rushed to greet her.

Not everyone got a chance to hug her cause as soon as the blonde locks were spotted by the dragon slayer Natsu dashed across the room to greet his mate. He practically crashed into her, his hug being tight and crushing but his intent was in good spirit.

"Natsu not so rough!" Erza called out, Lucy poking his back as a sign that he needed to let go. When he loosened his grip, he didn't dare let go of her and she simply smiled as best as she could and wrapped her frail arms around his form. How does one smile after being told the chances of them dying were high? That they aren't allowed to use magic and that most of their magic power was gone?

"Lu-chan we made you a homecooked meal for when we get back!" Levy said.

"And the children made you a card as well." Jellal added, the twins standing on either side of him and holding onto his hands.

"We don't have to go to the beach for a while if you need to recover." Gray stated as well.

"Aye!"

Natsu smiled and turned to face their friends, looking down to Lucy as he kept an arm around her. She simply stared at everyone individually taking note of their happy and relived faces.

She couldn't take it.

"Eh? Lushy?" Happy started, everyones expressions freezing in shock when they saw the fresh tears roll down her face once more.

"W-what's wrong, Luce?!" Natsu began to panic, turning to grab her shoulders and stare at her face. She bit her bottom lip, unable to say anything as the only thing she did was hug him as tightly as she could again. He didn't question it, if she wanted to tell him she would but for now he returned the hug with as much warmth and affection as he could.

 _I want to tell you, but not right now... not just yet._

"C-Come on," Levy began worriedly, turning as a cue for everyone to start walking. "Let's get back to our rooms. We've all had a rough week, ne?"

Lucy only nodded, and when she had let go she was led out of the hospital with Natsu's arm around her shoulder. She kept her hand on his chest, feeling the soft heartbeat as she closed her eyes and took it in for the time being...


	8. Linked Nightmare

"You've been really quiet."

The night was silent, the only sounds that could be heard was the gentle sway of the palm trees and the waves crashing onto the shore softly. The window was left open, the curtains fluttering about with the soft breeze that came from the water and it gave the room a relaxing atmosphere.

The only light from the room was the moon, and the only soul sleeping at the moment was Happy as he laid curled up comfortably next to Natsu and Lucy's feet. Lucy did not respond to his statement and instead laid on her side staring out the window towards the starry sky.

The two have been wide awake since Lucy had returned from the hospital, and she hasn't muttered a single word. Not even when she was presented with a meal made by Levy and Erza, only a simply 'thank you' and a few nibbles here and there. When the children had given her their card, the same reaction and only a small smile.

This was starting to concern the dragon slayer.

"Lucy." He spoke, she ignored it.

"Luuuuuuucy."

"Luce-"

"Natsu."

Her voice was soft and barely audible but it was stern as it would have been if she said it in broad daylight. It was a bit how she said his name when he had messed up, or when he chewed out those teenage girls for talking smack about their fathers when Lucy's had recently died years ago. It was that kind of scary 'Natsu' which made him freeze right then and there.

He didn't dare say her name again, and instead looked down to the sheets as he clutched his hands into a fist. He didn't like this kind of Lucy, had something happened in the hospital that he didn't know? Did someone touch her? If they did, oh God he was going to kill someone.

"What happened at the hospital?" He started up again, hoping she had not fallen asleep in the span of her pretty much telling him to hush. "You're acting weird." He sounded concerned, and he had every right to be.

On the other side of the bed, Lucy had been battling herself mentally ever since she rose from the hospital bed. When to tell them, how to tell them, if she should tell them. Of course she was going to tell them, she had to, but deep down her mind told her no... it wasn't good keeping secrets from your nakama.

Nor was it very easy, either.

Since she found out she wanted to scream 'I'm pregnant! But don't get your hopes too high up, I'm going to die!' and it was enough to make her start crying again. She couldn't though, she's exhausted all of her tears at the hospital and some in the bathroom when she had returned to the hotel. Levy had pointed out her puffy eyes, but she simply said it was a side effect of the medicine.

Levy was too smart to fall for that... and yet, here she was, falling for her 'flu' act. Was she a terrible person for doing it? She thought so, but when she had explained to Gajeel her reasoning she found it to be slightly comforting but not all the way.

"Nothing happened." She finally responded, causing Natsu to open his eyes after he had given up. Of course just saying that wasn't going to make everything all better and make him flop around and fall right to sleep.

"I highly doubt that." Natsu mummured, Lucy heard it and could literally feel the dagger stabbing her heart. Goodness why was he so good at reading her emotions and yet here she was with child and he hadn't the slightest idea? Lucy was beginning to wonder if Gajeel's senses were heightened only due to the fact he's already had a child and that was why Natsu couldn't tell so easily.

She was holding onto that for now.

"I'm just tired." She began, clutching at her blankets with her back still towards him. "Very, very tired." and it wasn't a lie either, she could feel the magic being sucked out of her and while that supplement did work, she was having trouble keeping it up.

Natsu said nothing, instead he simply threw an arm around her and snuggled up against her back so that she was fit snugly against his chest. He wasn't sure how to comfort her, whatever had happened, but he was determined to at least make her feel like she was not alone. She was never really alone, but Lucy just couldn't understand that.

Lucy slowly closed her eyes, finally finding the sleep she had been waiting for this entire night as the breeze picked up it's pace and filled the room a bit more. When she felt a small chill from it, she leaned back into Natsu some more for warmth. He was always warm, and it wasn't just a cozy campfire warm, but something more.

As she let the warmth take her over, she let her worries float away and soon she drifted off into sleep. She hoped it would be better than the sleep she had been getting at the hospital and it sure was right.

When Natsu took note of her breathing slowing down, a small smile appeared on his face. She finally seemed to have loosened up her shoulders and she didn't seem as tense as she was before. He slid another arm under her carefully so that he wont wake her up and brought her in close, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder before he himself laid his head back down and closed his eyes.

...

 _This place, it was familiar. The grass was tall, or maybe it was wheat? Either way, it was an endless sight of gold for miles around. The sky was nothing to scoff at either, and it was the clearest and brightest blue sky anyone has ever seen._

 _The air was crisp, on the breeze was a faint scent that was foreign but some how... familiar?_

 _Although it was a serene place, there was no one for miles. Where was that scent coming from, then?_

 _"Oiiii." A voice called out, it hardly felt like it was coming out of his own mouth but it sounded like his voice. Natsu finally made out the outlines of his hands and soon he could see them clearly as if it wasn't a dream._

 _This had to have been a dream, a few seconds ago he was in a hotel room with Lucy and now he was in the middle of a field. No other explanation would suffice at the moment._

 _Another soft breeze rolled through the area, causing his pink locks to move lightly from the gust of air as he took a step onto the lush golden grass. The breeze brought another puff of the mysterious scent to his nose and he needed to figure out where it was coming from._

 _As his feet carried him along the long strech of land, his nose began to sniff around for the trail of the scent. He began to smell it more intensely and he soon stopped in his tracks. He knew that smell, it was like... cinnamon._

 _It WAS cinnamon, not overbearing but like a tasty cinnamon bun that had just been brought out from the oven. He sniffed again, starting to feel hungry at the thought of a bun. That wasn't his priority though, and he started up again on his search._

 _He began to see a form appear in his vision, and suddenly a large tree had blocked his view. It was thick and seemed to be growing for quite sometime. The leaves were a vibrant green and some of the leaves had been pulled off and fluttered in the wind from the gust._

 _"Wow." was all Natsu could muster up, and he shut his eyes as a white petal suddenly hit his face. He wiggled it off of his nose, and watched it flutter away in the breeze. Soon after, a few more petals followed it and he took notice of how it was coming from behind the large tree._

 _He wasted no time in sneakily peeking behind the tree, and was greeted with an odd sight._

 _A person, but not just any person, a small child. The child sat in the grass, barefooted as she wore a dress made of white lace material. In her hands was a white daisy that she seemed to have been plucking at it's petals and muttering some words to herself._

 _Natsu narrowed his eyes as he eyed the child, the scent was definitely coming from her and he could smell it clear as day now. He could have sworn he smelt it before, but then again it was still as if he never has._

 _Taking an unconscious step into the grass, a branch suddenly snapped under his foot and the girl shot a frightened look towards him. She was about to drop her flower and run, but he held out a hand out to her._

 _"Wait!" He called out to her, the child now standing from being startled and staring at him with eyes wide as saucers. They were a dark magenta, and her skin was a beautiful pale tone. What stood out the most, was her blush colored hair that was flowing in the wind in all kinds of directions._

 _"Who are you?" Natsu couldn't help but ask, an eyebrow raising in confusion as they kept their eye contact this whole time. She didn't move, nor did she mutter a word, instead she kept her surprised expression. It took her a while, but she loosened up her tense muscles and soon a smile came to her face._

 _Natsu on the other hand, was still confused as to who this girl was and why exactly he was having this particular dream. He didn't hesitate to make his way over to the girl who was now accepting of his presence and he knelt down to eye level with the girl._

 _"Er... are you lost?" Natsu decided he would try to ask the child again, but her expression didn't falter. Instead, her smile grew wider and soon she was flashing a toothy grin at him. He couldn't help but smile a bit towards the girl as well, despite her not saying anything._

 _"Papa..."_

 _It was confusing, and sudden. Natsu blinked a few times when he had looked around for anyone else that was around them. It was just them, but he wasn't sure why she had given him this name._

 _As he looked away, he felt small hands grasp his larger one and he turned his gaze back to the smaller child before him. He would regret this however when his sight was met with the same girl, now dripping in red liquid._

 _It had been dripping down her forehead, pouring out from the corner of mouth and her small delicate hands had been stained with the blood as well. The white fabric around her soaking in it._

 _Natsu let out a scream, and just as quickly he let go of the child's hands as she stood before him now dripping into puddles. He started at her with wide eyes, trembling as she fell to her knees and coughed up even more blood onto the golden grass._

 _She soon lifted her head up, the smile now long gone and her face now held a pained expression._

 _"Help... me... help... mama..."_

...

Dawn had began to break outside, the birds of the outside world chirping loudly as the window continued to hang open and the breeze calming down from yesterday. It would had been a peaceful morning, if Natsu didn't shoot up in the bed in a cold sweat. The beds rolled down his cheeks, his breathing rapid as he panted trying to catch his breath.

His frantic eyes scanned the room and quickly set upon the lying figure next to him. She looked like an angel, the sun illuminating her features as she looked like she was practically glowing before him. The sight managed to calm himself down and he shut his eyes rubbing his temples.

Natsu had a lot of strange dreams in the past, but as of recently he had not had any truly terrifying dreams quite like the one he had the night before. The vision of the bloody child flashed through his mind and he grit his teeth together tightly.

Natsu threw the blanket off of him, sitting on the edge of the bed as he simply stared at the ground to regain his thoughts. Who was that girl, and why did that happen? He never seen her before, and never smelled her before either, and yet her scent was lingering in his nostrils just as Lucy's was. It was mingled with hers, causing an odd mix of strawberry, vanilla, and cinnamon to fill the room.

Natsu had been sucked up in his thoughts about the recent dream until a small groan and caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder to look towards Lucy in confusion, her expression twisting into something else as she began to sweat just as badly as he was. Worried, he quickly turned and placed a soft hand on her cheek in an attempt to softly wake her up.

"Luce..." he whispered affectionately, and it didn't her long to open her eyes as she seemed to have been adjusting her vision once more. When she had looked up to him, tears had formed in her eyes.

"Natsu..." she croaked out, pushing herself from the bed they laid in she wasted no time in wrapping her arms around his figure and squeezing him tightly.

She burried her face into his chest, her body trembling in an attempt to stop any sobs that dared to escape her lips.

"I know... I had a bad dream too..." He spoke, causing Lucy to stop and stare at him in shock. Had he had the same one she just had...? Raising a hand to his cheek, she swept his messy bangs to the side staring into his onyx eyes.

"I want to go home..." She only whispered, and he nodded in understanding. As much as the resort sounded like a fun idea she just wasn't experiencing it the way she thought she would. She figured she would let her nakama stay but she would go home, she had to. She couldn't stay here, she wanted to be in the comfort of her home especially if she would have to make visits to the doctor in Magnolia.

She was grateful to have Natsu by her side during it all, and they had embraced each other once again as the sun rose a bit higher over the ocean.

When they got back she would have to tell him, there was no way around it. He would not be happy, at least not with her keeping it from him like this, but maybe he would be able to support her as she wanted him to.

Death or not, she wanted them both to be prepared.

...


	9. Boat Back Home

"You're leaving?"

The restaurant was crowded, at least when they arrived it was, and the Fairy Tail group had been there for the majority of the morning. They sat at a large table, the children making messes with their food as Erza tried to keep them all in line with little help from their parents.

Levy was the first to ask, leaning across the table in surprise when Lucy had announced that she was in fact leaving the island.

"Yeah…" Lucy repeated, looking down to her plate of food that had not been touched for a good while. She had gotten a plate of breakfast, eggs, toast and bacon but she only took a nibble of the bacon before she decided it was too greasy for her liking.

"Ya just got back, though." Gray interjected, stuffing his face with the salty strips of bacon as he stared at the blonde.

"Yeah, you should stay a while longer." Jellal had added as he sat across from Erza, holding back one of the twins from lunging at his brother for some unknown reason.

Lucy knew she couldn't stay, that dream last night was a clear reminder that she needed to be back home where she could at least try to not use magic and exert herself. It was odd, however, how Natsu had the same dream as her. Or at least, that's what it sounded like when he explained what had been going on.

"I'd like to but…" she began, biting her bottom lip. "I can't, I'd rather just relax at home."

The dragon slayer had been in his own little world as the others exchanged conversation, staring off into space as he recalled the nightmare he had last night. White dress, very bloody little girl, and a field of gold? He wasn't one to look into deeper meanings of his dreams, but this one just struck him as odd.

"Oi, Salamander." A husky voice broke Natsu out of his train of thought, his eyes now narrowing into a glare as he shot Gajeel a nasty look for interrupting him. Can't blame him for being on edge after such a dream.

"Whaddya want?" Natsu replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he kept his hard glare on the iron dragon.

"Just makin' sure you were still on Earthland." Gajeel responded, his gaze not losing its hardness either. Gajeel knew that something had made him on edge, and he wondered if perhaps he had caught onto why Lucy was the way she was.

"Yeah." Natsu simply stated, looking down to his of course now empty plate. Beside it was Happy sitting on top of the table nibbling away at a big fish they had brought him and Natsu simply smiled and gave the blue feline a pat on the head.

"Somethin' got you thinking hard?" Gajeel asked nonchalantly, looking towards the blue feline this time.

Retracting his gaze from the exceed Natsu simply looked away again, contemplating whether or not he should tell Gajeel. If he was going to ask anyone about the dream it wouldn't have been him, but honestly maybe he had more an idea of what it was about then he did?

"Well I had this weird ass dream last night." He began, rubbing the back of his head as he ran some fingers through his pink locks. He made sure to speak quietly, not wanting to arouse any attention from nosy guest around them. "I was in a field of gold, and then there was a tree. Behind it, some little girl in a white dress was picking at white daisy petals…"

Gajeel listened quietly, nodding slightly as he did.

"She had pale skin, and when I had asked her if she was lost she only smiled." He continued on with his story, trying to remember the dream as best as he could. For some reason, he couldn't quite remember her hair color of what she had said to him. "Then out of nowhere she's covered in blood and asking for help?"

Natsu sounded confused and honestly a bit curious at the whole endeavor. When he lifted his head up to see if Gajeel had still been listening, it was clear as day that Gajeel had some kind of idea of what the dream was about. Natsu blinked his eyes, raising an eyebrow as he observed his expression.

"Don't tell me you had the same one, too?!" He exclaimed, the others in the group looking over startled only to be directed back to their conversations soon after.

"No, but I had a similar one years ago." Gajeel grumbled, recalling the dream in which he had before Garcelle had been born. Except, his dream wasn't in a field and instead was in a cold, damp room with walls covered in steel coating. The girl whom he had seen resembled Garcelle, but he had no idea at the time.

Gajeel wasn't sure how to explain it to Natsu who had no idea that he was going to be a father, but dragons have sort of a spiritual connection with their children, even beyond the womb. The girl he saw was most likely the spirit of his child, however the blood and message she had given him was far from what he had any knowledge of.

In the long run, it was creepy, but it was just how dragons were and how dragon slayers were as well.

Natsu stared in fascination, if Gajeel had the same dream then it had to have been a dragon slayer thing. He wondered if he had seen the same little girl he had all those years ago.

"Salamander," Gajeel started up again, this time staring into the pinkettes very soul as he spoke. "Pay attention, and prepare yourself."

Prepare himself… prepare for what? This guy had always been weird, but this just went beyond anything the iron dragon slayer did before. "What the hell are you talking abou-"

"Natsu, are you coming?" Their conversation came to a halt when another voice chimed in. He quickly looked up only to be greeted by Lucy who had rose in her seat, her plate being left for the servers to clean up.

"Eh? Where?" He asked, causing Lucy to sigh in defeat.

"To the room, to pack my things." She spoke again, pointing to the door with her thumb as she held an expression that said 'weren't you listening at all?'. Natsu simply stared at her for a few moments before he came back to reality.

"O-oh! Yeah, sure." He spoke, and rose in his seat as well. Before they had made their way back to the room, the group had bid them farewell, Levy getting up to hug Lucy knowing she would not see her until they got back from the vacation. The last boat was leaving today, and it wouldn't come around for another week which was their original plan.

"I'm sorry, guys." Lucy apologized, the twins also giving her their respective hugs as she returned them gently.

"Don't worry about it, we hope you feel better." Erza soon replied, ruffling the blondes hair and causing her to smile just a bit wider than she was before.

"You better believe we'll bring you back a souvenir " Gray added, crossing his arms with a smirk as Juvia also smiled in turn.

"Eh, what's that? You'd rather stay with me?" Natsu had gone off to say farewell to the kids, and at the moment he held Garcelle in his arms as she simply cooed to his words. "Yeah Gajeel does suck doesn't he?" He mumbled, the iron dragon slayer catching that and thus yelling at him before snatching away his child. If Natsu were to stay around her for too long his stupidity may rub off on her.

It didn't take long before everyone had said goodbye to the mage, and when Lucy had turned her gaze to Gajeel he simply gave her a look before turning his head away.

"Take care of yourself, bunny girl." He spoke simply, the look on his face and the way he had spoken the words sounded genuine with concern. He knows a lot more than Natsu, and he was hoping that Natsu would come to his senses as well.

When all of it was done and over with, the two made their way back to the room with Happy following close by as he spoke of how that was the greatest fish he had ever eaten.

...

Time flies by quickly when you aren't paying attention. It seemed like only a few minutes ago that Lucy had packed up her things with the duo she's always with. Now, the three had made their way onto the last ship headed back for the main land and she felt a small weight lifting from her shoulders.

As soon as she got back to her home, she would make an appointment with the doctor and as soon as she could. Then, she would try her best to explain the situation to her beloved pink dragon. It had been far too long, and if she wanted him to have any involvement he would have to know.

The ship had been half way across the sea by now, the night sky hung above the large vessel as Lucy leaned across the railing and stared at the waves below them. The waves crashed gently against the base of the ship, the moonlight hitting the water just right so that it reflected brightly. It was a serene place for some heavy thinking.

"Lushy, you're still awake?" The sound of a certain felines voice caused the blond to turn her head and look over her shoulder to him. Happy approached her sleepily, rubbing his eyes and yawning a bit as he came to stop at her feet. He was wearing a little pj set he had gotten at the island, and he looked absolutely adorable.

"Yeah, can't sleep." She muttered low as if not to wake up anyone else, smiling gently as she turned her attention back to the water below. Happy took notice of her actions and listened to the waves as they continued to crash against the wood.

A small silence passed and unlike all the other times she was in total silence it wasn't as awkward or uncomfortable. With Happy, she really had nothing to worry about. She could tell him things that she couldn't really tell anyone else and he swore never to reveal it to Natsu no matter how much he wanted to.

He was like a diary of sorts, except this one was one that could speak to her and give her adivce. Happy wasn't as clueless as Natsu as most thought.

"Tell me something, Happy."

"Hm?"

Happy glanced up to Lucy once again with his large eyes, curiosity swimming in them as he awaited her question. For a while, the wind had picked up causing his tail and fur to flow gently as well as her golden locks to flow in the breeze.

"Do you like the name Nashi?" Lucy began, Happy's ears twitched slightly when she asked the question. What?

"Nashi?" He questioned, not exactly asking if he said it right but mainly asking why she brought up such a weird question.

Lucy closed her eyes and shook her head no, turning to face him with her hand still resting on the railing. She looked down to the feline and smiled. "Forget it, it's a silly question." When she pushed herself off the railing again, she began to walk back to the quarters they had been staying in, silently telling him to follow.

Happy didn't budge, instead he kept his gaze on the female with a serious expression on his face. He put his paw into a fist, furrowing his brow before he took a step. He remembered the pills, he remembers the signs, he remembered.

"Lushy... Are you pregnant?"

It wasn't long before Lucy quickly turned on her heel, you would have thought she would break it from how quickly she had done it. Her eyes widened, and it seemed as if her face flushed itself from any color she had. It was hard to see with the little light on the deck, but she was clearly shocked.

It seemed like the wind picked up its pace, Lucy's locks brushed against her cheek faintly while it was pushed around by the wind. The two had maintained eye contact and Lucy was quickly beginning to become nervous. She bit her bottom lip and simply let out a sigh, she won't be able to hide it anymore. At least, not from Happy.

"Y-yeah..." She softly answered, her gaze averting to the ground as she rubbed one of her arms out of anxiety. Was he going to be dissapointed? Or worse, would he rush to tell Natsu before she could have a chance to explain herself?

"Happy, please-"

"THAT'S AMAZING, LUSHY!" Suddenly, Happy had sprung from his position and jumped up into the air. His wings spread out behind him to support him into the air and soon he flung himself at her chest. This took the blonde by surprise and soon they both ended up on the floor, Lucy hitting her bottom a bit roughly but her shock was enough to soften the blow.

The feline had been happily snuggling into her bosom as he usually did when he hugged her, but out of affection. This... wasn't what she was expecting... at least, not what she was expecting right off the bat.

"H-Happy!" She exclaimed, but this time a bit of laughter had been mixed up into her voice. She felt happy, relieved, she had been bottling this up for a while now and being able to tell one of her nakama was fulfilling. She honestly should have done this before. Though the realization hit her, that he would have to know the bad news along with the good.

"Nashi is a pretty name! Is it a girl? Will they look like me?" His questions wouldn't stop coming, and after a while Lucy would smile gently and pull the feline from her chest before petting his head softly.

He stopped when he felt her hand touch his head and soon he lifted up to meet her gaze again. This time, he was greeted with tearful eyes.

"Promise me you won't tell Natsu what I'm about to tell you, OK?" Lucy began, and Happy quickly nodded his head in agreement. Although they usually shared everything, if Lucy asked him not to share it then he would keep his mouth shut. It was what was right, after all.

With a deep breath, she had begun to spill her knowledge of what the doctor had told her. Thankfully, the two were the only ones awake, and they kept their conversation to a quiet whisper. She told him that her magic was depleting, that she wasn't allowed to use any and that she was at a high risk for dying. It was never an easy thing to say, that you're dying, but she had no choice.

Happy simply listened, his ears lowering slightly as he heard the news and tears threatened to spill from the felines eyes as well. His lip quivered, what would happen to Lucy and the baby? They can't die, Natsu wouldn't allow it, HE won't allow it.

"But Lushy..." Happy started, "You can't..." It was as if he was asking Lucy to stop, but she had no choice in the matter. She wanted to give the baby a chance at living, and she had already decided she was willing to give up her life for them.

"It's ok." She assured, stroking his fur once again as he simply shut his eyes tightly and let the tears fall. Of course he was sad, he loved Lucy as if she was his own mother at this point and he didn't want to lose a sibling let alone her.

"Does... Does Natsu know?" Happy was quick to ask, and Lucy simply turned her head away with a frown and furrowed eyebrows. He could tell this was a 'no', and he also frowned in response. "Lushy you have to tell him-"

"I know." She spoke. "I will... just, when we get back to Magnolia..." She won't tell him on the boat ride, he's been sick the moment he stepped onto the vessel and it was no place to tell him the news. "I'll tell him when I get everything straightened out."

When she finished speaking, she used her finger to wipe away the tears on the felines cheeks. She smiled towards him in reassurance, and he couldn't help but to smile back.

"You promise?"

"Aye, I promise."

...


	10. Rain

**A/N:** You guys don't know how much it means to me to read all your reviews! The story is reaching the climax and hopefully it will come to a conclusion, so let us continue!

...

She was tired, so very tired, and she had no way of stopping it. It's been terrible, from the morning that she woke up from the sudden twist and turns of her stomach. She felt gross, she wanted to puke her guts out and she honestly felt like she did for half of the morning. Lucy hadn't gotten much sleep after her little talk with Happy, and the fact that as soon as she did rest her eyes she was shaken away by the wave of nausea that soon followed was not helping.

She felt like Natsu at this point, except he was knocked out cold from sleep as he laid sprawled out on the bed they shared on the boat. He could usually sleep through a ride if it got too bad, and he seemed to have been doing a rather good job at this point.

Lucy however, had made her way to the bathroom that came with the quaters they had stayed in, sitting on the floor as she rested her cheek against the seat. It wasn't flattering, no, but she felt a lot better from the coldness of the porcelain and just sitting down. It was helping.

"This is terrible." Happy had watched as he made his way from the bedroom to the small bathroom that came with the room. He watched Natsu for a short while, watching him sweat profusely as his face contorted into an uncomfortable position. After that, he went over to Lucy only to watch her groan and once again turn her head to empty her stomach contents into the bowl.

What a lovely couple.

"Guys... hang in there!" He exclaimed, offering rubs and pats whenever he had the chance to hoping it would help at least one of them.

Happy was in the middle of applying a cold towel to Lucy's forehead when he heard the loud spouting of a horn. It had come from their boat, and it was signal that they had arrived at their destination and was to be docking soon.

"Guys, the boat is docking! We're here!" He exclaimed, Lucy groggily turning her head up to look at the feline before she also heard the horn once again. A small smile came onto her face, and she stood from the ground as she held the cold towel to her forehead after thanking Happy.

She opened the door to the bathroom before she flushed the toilet, heading over towards the bed to watch the sleeping dragon. She took off the towel hesitantly, setting it onto the bed before she reached out to shake Natsu's arm.

"Oi." She spoke simply, shaking it rather roughly to wake him up but it wasn't working at all. He stayed snoring, and once again the horn sounded before she could feel it coming to a halt as they approached the dock.

Grumbling, Lucy tried again and this time she was practically yelling at him. "NATSU!" She screeched, and just like that his eyes shot open and he sprung up in the bed. As he did this, their foreheads came into contact with each other and Lucy was thrown back by the sheer force of it.

Seeing stars, Lucy fell onto her back and laid there as her eyes spiraled. "Wahhh..."

"Natsu-baka! Look what you did!" Happy shrieked and quickly flew to the females aid. Natsu simply blinked his eyes before his face became green again.

"I'm gonna hurl..." He croaked, covering his mouth not able to even form concern through his sickness.

"Still?!"

"Pretty stars..."

...

After a few apologies later and a promise to buy Lucy something nice, the three wizards had finally made it back to the main land. They made their way from the dock to the train that would take them back to Magnolia and Natsu had practically begged Lucy to walk the rest of the way. She wasn't about to walk who knows how many miles back to town, not in her condition and especially not when she was knocked in the head so violently.

"He's hopeless." Happy murmured, the three now sitting in the train as it made it's way through the land and back to Magnolia.

Lucy sighed, glancing over to her partner who had been groaning and leaning his head against her shoulder for support. All these years and he still hasn't gotten over his motion sickness, who would have thought that the dragon slayers weakness would be something so simple such as motion sickness?

"At least he tries." Lucy replied to Happy's remark, running her slim fingers through his pink hair in an attempt to soothe him. It did help a little, but he was still green and shivering.

"Aye." Happy replied simply before he gazed at the quickly passing by trees outside their window. It was obvious he was still thinking of their previous conversation, and Lucy simply smiled.

"Don't think too hard about it, Happy." Lucy knowingly spoke, shaking her head no when the feline had looked back to her.

"I know, I just..." He was about to speak, however was quickly stopped when Natsu had made a small sound of discomfort. He was still there after all, and he knew that Lucy wanted to tell him when the time was right. The train, was not the right time and not out of his mouth, either.

"Everything will turn out alright." She spoke once again, though who was she trying to comfort, Happy or herself? She was planning on making an appointment for sure, but after that... what then? The future was still unclear.

Lucy shook her head snapping herself out of these thoughts, if she continued on like this she would make herself anxious. She glanced down to her stomach, and soon a small growl came from it.

"Anyways, I'm going to go get a snack. Do you want anything?" Lucy stretched her arms above her head, sighing as she shook off her fatigue. She certainly felt better from the boat ride, but it still lingered.

Happy thought for a second, before raising his paw. "Fish!"

Of course he wanted fish, she should have known. Giving a small giggle, she rose in her seat causing Natsu to fall onto the bench and groan once again as he simply stayed put.

"I'll be back." Lucy raised her hand and made her way down the aisle to the snacks area which was granted to them free of charge. It was nice of them, she thought, considering how she was really hungry.

When she got there, her sight was filled with all kinds of snacks. Desserts, bite sized finger foods, you name it. Lucy wasted no time in grabbing a plate and filling it with as much as she could. She got some sushi for Happy, and began to grab whatever smelt good to her. Pickles with cheese? Check. Crackers and ketchup? Sure, why not.

As Lucy munched away at her delightful creations, she suddenly stopped. Was she really eating pickles... with cheese...? She wanted to spit it out, but... it actually tasted pretty good to her. Or, maybe it tasted good to the baby? Who knows at this point.

She shrugged, turning from the table and munching away at her tasty pickle as she got lost in thought and began to wander down the hall. She would have to buy some more pickles when she got home. She was never a fan at first, but now it was super good. Oh, now that she thought about it more, she wondered how a flaming pickle would taste...

Her thoughts all came to a halt when she felt herself bump into someones shoulder, causing her to almost spill her plate of food before she regained her footing.

"Ah, I'm sorry-"

"Watch where you're going!" The man suddenly snapped, turning to stare at her with piercing eyes. She froze, taken back by his sudden hostility. What's with people these days?

"I said sorry." She grumbled, glaring back with little fear as she turned to walk back. Stuffing the last of her snack into her mouth angrily, she found herself being stopped when a hand wrapped around her arm and yanked her back.

"Hey-"

"I don't like yer attitude, girl." He hissed, Lucy practically shutting her eyes to avoid any spit flying onto her face. She opened her eyes once more and gave him the hardest glare she could muster.

"Let me go." She replied harshly, noticing something off about this man. He seemed in a rush to get somewhere and he had a nervous tick. He was trouble, and she knew it.

"I don't wanna have ta hurt ya, kid!" The man said in a hurried whisper, his hand almost crushing her arm from how tightly he had been holding on. Lucy didn't flinch and instead her eyes averted down to his chest. She could see a bulge protruding from his chest in an odd shape. Suddenly, her mind clicked and she could see that he was in fact carrying something.

 _"A bomb?"_ Lucy thought to herself, a bead of sweat rolling down her cheek. She had to stop this guy before he had a chance to make this thing go off on the train.

She reacted slowly, her free hand reaching down to shuffle through the bag that hung on her hip. Inside of it, it held her keys safely and she reached for one of them grasping it tightly in her palm. She knew she could probably use her star dresses, but maybe that would use too much magic. Summoning one of her spirits for a while couldn't use up that much, so it was worth a shot.

The man took notice, but before he could do anything to stop her suddenly a painful grunt burst from the blonde before she fell to her knees. The man released her quickly and watched as she wrapped her arms around her figure and trembled, her body being cloaked in golden light.

"W...what...?" She could barely speak, her limbs slowly giving out on her as she felt the movement of her body slow down until she fell forward on the floorboards. The train continued to move at it's regular pace, and the suspicious man simply stared with wide eyes.

"I-"

"Who the fuck are you?"

The man's eyes shot up to the strange new voice that came from a few meters away. His shaky eyes settled on Natsu's form as he leaned against the wall for support. He was clearly still very sick from the movement of the train, but his face now became serious as he saw Lucy on the floor in front of this strange man.

The man didn't say anything, instead he was practically frozen in fear as his gaze stayed interlocked with the dragon slayers piercing onyx eyes.

"What the hell did you do to her?" He hissed, moving forward and causing the man to take a clumsy step back. He found himself bumping into the door of the dining cart and a large gulp could be heard from his throat. Instead of doing anything to him, Natsu quickly kneeled down to Lucy's side to make sure she was ok. He observed her body as much as he could, and thankfully he couldn't find any marks.

She was still awake, however her heavy breathing and the odd glowing light around her meant something was happening to her. She felt weak, she couldn't move nor could she express her state to the worried dragon slayer that had helped her sit up. She could literally feel the magic being sucked from her body and it was terrible.

 _"Avoid using any magic, no matter what."_ The words of the doctor rung in her head and she felt stupid. Of course summoning a spirit would use up too much magic, this must have been the reason. The child would just suck it up, even if she hadn't done it the magic power beginning to flow caused it.

When Lucy had been helped up by the dragon slayer, his head turned back towards the man and soon his arm became encased in flames. Lucy simply stayed put as she leaned against the wall, watching his flames grow more with rage as he made his way over to the frightened man.

"I-I didn't-"

His words were cut off as soon as Natsu's fist came into contact with his jaw. If it was slowed down, it could've been clearly noted that it was dislocated as the man was sent flying right out the window of the train. The glass shattered at the large mans impact, and as the train sped by he was soon out of sight. Some shards flew across the room, but thankfully none of them had hit Lucy.

Natsu could feel the nausea setting in again when he realized where he was, but his concern for Lucy helped him make his way back to her.

"We have to get you off." Natsu spoke, his arms now around her waist as he helped her off the wall in her weakened state. "To a doctor, we'll never reach Magnolia in time."

"But..." She began, forcing herself to find the words to speak. "The... train..." She finally managed to say, the train still not reaching their destination and moving at a quick pace.

Natsu didn't say anything in response, instead he turned his head to face a now present Happy. Under the feline were their bags, and Natsu soon had a smile appear on his face. Lucy watched his expression change, and she felt an impending doom.

With an arm still around the blonde, his other arm had grabbed their few bags and Happy had floated over to them both.

"Happy, let's go." With that, the feline grabbed onto Natsu's shirt and made his way out the broken window.

...

God, she knew he was reckless but she never expected him to do something like this. The train was far from any town, sure, but that was no reason to jump out the window all willy nilly. It didn't matter how sick she was, the train was much safer!

The three made their way through a thick forest that had ran along the train tracks, Natsu carrying the bags with both hands as Happy floated above him. On his back, Lucy was being carried with a scowl on her face.

The glowing of her body had stopped as soon as the lingering magic had gone away, but she still felt incredibly weak. If she had more strength, she would tell Natsu how reckless the idea was and that it would have actually been faster to stay on the train.

He knew though, he could feel her glare burn into the back of his head as he continued on his way. Happy casually flew after a butterfly, not caring about the circumstances as long as they got back to Magnolia.

"I know, I know." Natsu began, sighing as he looked off into the distance. He could hear her scolding him in his mind, it was weird. "I won't be able to concentrate on you if we stayed on the train, I hate that thing."

What he was saying was true, and she appreciated that he put her conditions first, but he still had to know he can't just go jumping out of windows all the time. She didn't say anything though, she really couldn't force a voice out her throat. Instead, she rested her cheek against his shoulder and breathed heavily as she tried to fight off her weakness and ignored her little grudge.

Natsu looked over his shoulder to catch sight of Lucy, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. He couldn't run with the bags, but he can't just leave their stuff in the middle of a forest. He wanted nothing more than to get her to a doctor, but there was no way that was happening unless they magically teleported there. Happy could have flown one of them, but Natsu wanted to make sure he stayed by Lucy's side.

"Will you be ok, Lushy?" Happy questioned, lowering himself to look at Lucy who didn't show any sign of responding. She had her eyes shut tightly, grinding her teeth together as she laid practically lifeless as a doll on Natsu's back.

"She will." Natsu responded for Lucy, his look hardening as he quickened his pace. He could smell the air, and the scent of rain lingered in the distance. If they were going to get to a town, they would have to do it before it came.

Happy watched Lucy with worry painting his face, could this be because of Nashi? Happy had already dubbed the child, male or not, and Nashi was the name that he chose. Lucy asked him if he liked it, and he really did. _"Hang in there, Lushy."_ He thought to himself, bringing a paw to move some strands of hair from her face in an affectionate manner.

Although the trio had covered a lot of ground since they jumped from the train, they were miles away from any civilization and he knew it. Despite the speedy pace they had been moving in, a drop of water was quick to land on Natsu's cheek and he looked up to the sky. Droplets had begun to fall steadily, the clouds rolling in and thunder soon could be heard in the distance.

"Fuck, come on Happy." Natsu called out to the feline, and soon they had began to run as best as they could with the bags in his hands and a fragile Lucy on his back. With a bit of sniffing around and a sharp eye, Natsu's sight fixated on a cave opening and he quickly turned on his feet to run into the dark opening. If anything was lurking inside, he could just kick 'em out of there.

When they ran deep enough into the cave, Natsu let the bags drop from his hands and he sighed when he heard the rain now pour hard outside. The droplets echoed into the cave, but thankfully there had not been anything sleeping soundly so there was no fear of waking a beast.

Happy sighed and plopped down onto the floor, looking around at the cave they were now in. "Happy, get me a blanket." Natsu asked, averting his eyes from the rain back to him.

"Aye!" Happy spoke, and dug into his bag in order to pull out a thick blanket he carried around. Flying over, Happy set it down onto the ground as straight as he could and Natsu lowered himself down to his knees, letting Lucy lay across the blanket gently. When she was released, her head turned to the side and she continued to rest her eyes and body.

The pinkette gazed at her face for a few seconds, and when he saw a shiver run over her body he sat himself down near her. Holding up a hand in front of him, he soon lit his hand on fire to provide the space with light and warmth.

Happy yanked out a few pillows from the bags that they kept for the trip and gently set one under Lucy's head using the other as a seat for himself. The two sat in silence, the only sounds that rang through the cave was the soft pattering of the rain drops against the rocks and leaves.

Natsu sat in thought, his hand stretched out towards Lucy to keep her warm but not close enough that it would burn her. As he stared at her resting face, his mind lingered to other places.

 _"Be prepared."_ Gajeel's voice, that's for sure, but why now? Natsu grumbled low to himself, looking back to his flames as he pondered what exactly the iron dragon slayer meant. It's only a flu, so that can't be what he meant. Maybe he meant the train ride and the boat ride back to back? Though, that also didn't seem right. It angered him to know that Gajeel had knowledge about something he didn't, especially since he knew it had something to do with Lucy.

As thunder clashed loudly in the distance, Natsu's attention was captured by a small movement from the blonde.

She had turned her head towards him, her chocolate eyes now wide open as she stared at him with a frown on her face. Natsu was about to speak, that is until she decided to place her hands at her sides and push herself up from the blanket.

"Are you OK, Luce?" He soon questioned, Lucy already making an effort to keep herself in the sitting position. She almost fell back down, but Natsu's arms quickly wrapped around her and supported her into a seating position. She glanced up to his face, their noses now inches apart and she glanced up to meet his gaze.

It wasn't long before tears began to swell up in her eyes, and Natsu's widened in shock. Was he hurting her?

"O-oh, sorry, I-I'll just..."

"Natsu... I'm sorry..."

Natsu was taken back by the statement. He had no idea what she had to be sorry for, she did nothing wrong. It wasn't her fault that she was sick, so she shouldn't feel bad for having to be supported even just a little bit. It's always been like this, and even though she had some independence he couldn't help but want to support her.

"What are you talking about?" He quickly asked, Happy watching in fascination at the scene unfolding before him.

Lucy took a minute to speak again, her lip quivered slightly as she tried her best to stop the tears that now fell down her cheeks. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his chest and letting out a few hushed sobs as her body shook from the effort. Her hands were balled up into fist and those also rested against the dragon slayer.

Natsu wasn't sure what to make of the situation, nor was he sure what caused it. He thought back to all that he said during the trip back, but nothing struck him as something that could have upset her. Was it the train thing? There was no way that would have such an impact on her.

He narrowed his eyes as his expression softened, placing his hand on the back of her head so that he could bring her closer to his form. His other arm was kept tightly around her waist and now they were in a full on hug.

She whispered something, but it was barely audible. He rose an eyebrow in confusion, loosening his grip on her so that her face wouldn't be pressed up against him so tightly.

"What?" He asked, Lucy noticeably tensing up after this.

"I'm..." She began, and soon she spoke louder than she has in a while. "I'm pregnant, Natsu."

...


	11. Reveal

**A/N:** Sorry about the cliff hanger! XD I did that on purpose, gihi~

Anyways, brace yourselves as this story is coming to an E.N.D. Heh, get it? ;) This chapter isn't much, but I hope you guys enjoy the little bit of Nalu fluff!

...

Silence again, the rain now becoming louder with every second that passed in the cave. Happy kept quiet, however his eyes had widened into sparkling orbs as he watched the two hug. He kept his paws over his mouth, his eyes also baring some tears.

If Lucy had a watch, she would be able to count down the minutes that had passed by. She felt Natsu's breath slow down steadily, however no sound was made from him. She was scared to look up, she was afraid she would be met with an angry expression due to the fact that she waited until it got this bad to tell him.

She had to look up though, the silence was killing her. She shut her eyes letting the last few tears fall down her cheeks, and she then looked up to stare at the dragon slayer she had been embracing.

The expression he wore was something she had never seen before. It wasn't angry, it wasn't even upset in the slightest way, it was just... there. Straight as a board, but eyes as wide as saucers as they stared into her chocolate orbs.

"Natsu...?" She questioned softly.

"For how long?"

There it was, he was angry with her, though this was no time to chicken out. She had to continue to tell him what he wanted to know. He had the right to know, and she already was too far gone to go back. Leaning her head back down and away from his stare, she began again.

"A couple of months, even before you left..." She spoke quietly, and if you didn't have Natsu's trained ears there was no way you could have heard her. "I'm sorry Natsu, I should have told you." She then began again, her voice cracking ever so slightly. She clutched onto his shirt tightly as it was practically ready to rip off.

"Don't be mad, please-"

"Mad?" Natsu stopped her right then and there, gently lifting her chin upwards so that he could see her face clearly again. The sound of the rain didn't let up, but they honestly couldn't hear anything else around them except for themselves. "You're such a weirdo, why on Earthland would I ever be mad at that?"

Lucy's eyes slowly opened up more, Natsu now wearing one of his large signature grins. Any anger that she thought he had was no where to be seen, and instead he held nothing but an affectionate gaze. His eyebrows were lowered, and if you looked closely it was very clear that he too had began to get teary eyed.

The blonde stared at him with her mouth open, surprise filling her mind. She didn't expect this reaction, but then again she probably should have? She knew Natsu better than anyone and she should have known that he could never be really mad at her.

That is, of course, until she would have to tell him the bad news she kept hidden.

Before she could speak, his arms wrapped around her body again and pulled her close. It was a different hug than last time, and was very warm. "I'm so glad, it all makes sense now." Natsu spoke softly in her ear, burrying his face into her golden hair as he spoke. He knew now why she had smelled so different, and why she had gotten so sick.

Lucy tried her best to stay optimistic, returning the hug and wrapping her frail arms around his large frame once again. They stayed like this for a while, as the rain poured down and Happy curled up into a small ball in order to fall asleep and give them the privacy they needed.

How would she bring up the other news? He seemed so happy right now, why would she want to bring that all down. _"I have to tell him... The baby..."_

"Did you find out back on the island?" He questioned, and she gave a small nod.

"The doctor told me, that was why I had all those symptoms." Lucy shrugged. When she had finished speaking, he let go of her again and this time they simply sat in front of each other staring face to face. He moved a hand upwards to run some fingers across her cheek, and when he did he could feel she was still a bit cold to the touch. However, when he did this, her color and warmth quickly returned to her cheeks.

"I see." Natsu said, but soon he began to think back to the day they had visited her. "Were you scared?"

Lucy blinked her eyes a bit from the question, but she knew the answer. She was very scared, she still is, and for whole different reasons. "Yeah... That's why I didn't tell anyone."

He chuckled slightly, shaking his head no. "You know we're all here for you." Natsu was quick to confirm, his eyes holding dedication and all the strength he had. She knew that, but there was nothing they could do about the news, not even her nakama could make her feel better about this.

"I know." She began, moving a hand of hers up to push some of her bangs back. The dragon slayer kept a close eye on her, thinking her reactions and the way she had been speaking to be very odd and not very 'Lucy like'.

"When we got back to Magnolia, I was going to set up an appointment and tell you then." She turned her gaze to the sleeping feline a few meters away, frowning slightly as she tried to contemplate how she would bring up the bad news. "Though I thought I might as well tell you now after... that, happened."

'That' was indeed something she couldn't have passed off as just a flu. Her magical powers being sucked from her, it was not a simple sickness.

"I promise I'll get you back to Magnolia. Whatever that was, we'll work it out." Natsu quickly took hold of her hand again and pulled it gently towards his chest. She looked up to him startled, and a faint blush spread across her face. With a smile, he soon leaned forward until his forehead brushed against hers and rested upon it. His free hand made it's way to her stomach and he gently caressed where their child rested.

"I promise I'll be there for you guys."

This tender Natsu, it was rare, but when it did come out Lucy loved every minute of it. She felt safe, having Natsu as the father was a huge help and she knew that no matter what he wouldn't fail them. Closing her eyes, she finally had brought a smile to her face, however she didn't have the heart to tell him the bad news. Not now.

A small rumble from the thunder rang in the background, and it was oddly soothing to her. She decided she would tell him the bad news later. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy his company.

"Can I name them?" Natsu spoke suddenly, breaking the tender moment.

"We don't know the gender..."

"I know one, this works for any gender, Igneel Jr!"

"Natsu, no."

"Alright... maybe middle name?"

...

 _"Why don't you tell them, already?"_

 _"I can't do it."_

 _"You can't hide this forever."_

 _"I know..."_

 _"You will die. Your child will die, and it'll be all. your. fault."_

 _"You're wrong."_

 _"I'm right."_

 _"SHUT UP!"_

Lucy's eyes shot open as the voice from her dream shook her awake, the blankets that had been put over her fell around her as she began to breath heavily breaking out in a cold sweat. It's been a while since she had a bad dream, but looks like they aren't gone after all. When she finally regained herself, she glanced around to see just where she was.

"My apartment...?" She mumbled, mind clouding with confusion. How did she get here? Last she remembered was falling asleep to the sound of rain in a dark creepy cave.

"Ah, you're awake."

Blinking, Lucy's eyes scanned the room and soon fell upon the tanned man before her. She jumped, startled by his sudden presence. Was he standing there the whole time?

"Gosh, Natsu." She grumbled, putting a hand over her chest and letting out a soft sigh. "Make your presence known for once."

"What do you mean? I called for you twice." He replied, a slight pout on his lips as he moved a hand up to feel her forehead. "Jeez, you're burning up."

"How can you tell? You're always warm." She replied, moving his hand from her forehead and looking up to him with furrowed eyebrows. "I feel fine." She added shrugging, putting aside the very odd dream with the creepy voice for now.

"That doesn't mean I can't tell when your temperature is higher than normal." He replied, crossing his arms. "You don't look fine."

Waving her hand nonchalantly, she threws her legs over the side of her bed and stood up. She shivered a bit when she felt the cold of the floor hit her but she was soon standing up straight in front of him, still in the clothes that she was wearing for the train ride. "When did we get back?"

"Last night."

"Did you carry me the whole way?" She asked, a bit bashful when doing so.

Natsu simply shrugged, a smile on his face. "Well duh, you weren't going to move anytime soon." He teased, poking her forehead and causing her to giggle a bit as she rubbed the spot where he poked.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I'm causing." Lucy apologized, looking down to the floor sadly. If she would have known how much trouble she would b when she was pregnant she wouldn't have gone anywhere. Seeing Natsu's hand move towards her, she was half expecting another poke but this time telling her to stop apologizing. Instead, his hands rested on her cheeks and she was pulled in until their lips came into contact with each other.

If she hadn't blushed enough in the past, this blush would be enough to cover for that. She was red as can be, eyes wide until he had pulled away from the intimate action.

"W-w-wh-"

"You're not causing trouble. You know I'll always help you out, Luce." Natsu assured, grinning widely towards her again causing her blush to stay plastered on her face. "Besides, what kind of father would I be if I let you walk the rest of the way?"

The words struck her as soon as they left his mouth, her gaze falling upon his face and soon her lips curled into a wide smile. "Yeah..." She simply replied, happiness filing every viber of her being.

"Ah, that reminds me." The dragon slayer soon spoke, hitting his palm with his fist as he recalled what he was going to say. Lucy tilted her head, curious as to what he was going to say. "I know you said you were going to do it, but I went ahead and got you an appointment for the doctor."

Lucy listened, and she smiled once again. "Thank you, Natsu. That's sweet of you." She spoke, wrapping her arms around his neck and smiling up to him.

The dragon slayer smirked back, throwing his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into the crook of her shoulder. "No problem, Luce." He muffled a bit bashfully but it was hardly noticeable.

"Natsu and Lucy, sitting in a tree~"

The two froze, quickly turning their heads to face a floating Happy that stood on the windowsill. Lucy nervously pushed at Natsu's chest but he just kept his grip on her so that she couldn't move. "H-Happy when did you get here?"

"I've been here, Lushy." He teased, giggling mischievously. She turned her head away to hide herself from the embarrassment.

"You both need to be louder so I can hear you!" She whined, but the two simply snickered.

"Hey, Luce." Natsu quickly brought back her attention when he had said her name, however she still kept a small pout on her face when she looked towards him again. How cute.

"You up for visiting the guild?"

Lucy blinked her eyes a bit, taking in the question she was asked. Visiting the guild sounded like a great idea, but was she really ready to tell everyone the big news?

"I... Well... maybe...?" She said hestitantly, Natsu taking notice and smiling slightly at this.

"You don't have to be scared to tell them, Luce." He reassured, and he will continue to do so until she is comfortable. "Again, they're your nakama."

This was true, and Lucy had to come to terms that she would eventually need to tell them. She would rather them be happy about the news before the bad would, eventually, come.

"Alright, alright... but I need to change." Lucy spoke once again, pulling herself away from Natsu and going to find some new clothes. She had been in the same ones she's had since the trip, and she felt suffocated.

Natsu shrugged and let the mage do as she needed, plopping down onto her bed and leaning back on his hands as he glanced around the room. Happy took a seat next to him and they both watched the blonde wizard walk back and fourth. She had made her way to the bag that laid against her dresser, obviously needing to unpack when she had the chance, but opening it and rummaging through what she could wear.

She held up a tank top, and frowned a bit before she tossed it over her shoulder causing it to land at Natsu's feet. He rose an eyebrow, glancing down to the article of clothing before he looked up again curiously. Another had fallen, and then another, and he soon found a pile of her clothes near his feet.

"What gives, Luce?" He grumbled confused, wanting to know what was wrong with the clothes. They looked just fine to him.

"None of these are... approptiate!" She whined, realizing just how short she liked to wear her clothes. None of these are fit for the belly that was slowly but surely showing. She realized she would need to buy maternity clothes, and she sighed. Those weren't her style, but whatever made her feel comfortable.

"So what?"

"So? I have to go shopping later, that's what." She replied, looking over her shoulder to give the dragon slayer a pout before she settled on a looser white t-shirt and black ruffled skirt. Standing up, she made her way to the bathroom and shut the door behind her so she could take a shower and freshen up.

"Man, Lushy is gonna get really round." Happy soon spoke, looking up in thought as he imagined Lucy's head on a large round ball. Natsu blinked also imagining it but he shrugged and smiled at it.

"Doesn't matter, Lucy is still Lucy after all."

"Aye!"

...


	12. Turn for the worst

**A/N:** Hey guys! So first I'd like to apologize for the story going a bit slow at this point, but this will be second to last chapter! Yeah the feels will get strong in the last one, so have a tissue ready ok?

 **A/N 2:** On a side note, any one seen the spoilers for the new Fairy Tail light novel Trouble Twins? Looks like little Garcelle is gonna have siblings! Haha I was surprised, but I'm excited to read it when it gets translated.

...

"MAMAAAAA!" A scream sounded clearly through the large guildhall. The wizards which attempted to rest and drink their drinks all looking towards a certain blonde hair child in annoyance. The child ran up to the bar in which his mother stayed at, jumping onto a bar stool as she continued to clean her cups calmly.

"Hm?" Mirajane asked, not breaking her eye contact with the glass in her hand.

"I-I was being nice a-and offered to help papa with his paper work b-but he told me to get l-lost!" He sobbed, big blobs of tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked up to his mother.

"Did he?" Mirajane questioned, stopping the task she was doing to glance to her son. "When did this happen, Giro?"

"A-A little bit ago..." He spoke quietly, rubbing his eyes to stop the tears that had been falling. Most of the time, these were crocodile tears and the whole 'get lost' thing was just a little act to get his father in trouble. He liked to do that for some reason, but kids will be kids. Especially Laxus's kids.

"Giro, you know mama doesn't appreciate lies." Mirajane stated, poking her childs nose and causing him to scrunch it up.

"But it's not a lie, mama!" Giro defended, waving his arms about frantically. He was a drama queen sometimes.

"Mmm hmm, I would believe it if your father was home." She spoke simply, putting a fist on her hip as she rose an eyebrow sternly.

Caught red handed, Giro plopped down onto the seat he stood in. He crossed his arms, puffing up his cheeks and turning his head away. "I thought it would work that time."

"What an odd child you are, Giro." She sighed, going back to cleaning what she needed. "Your papa won't be very happy with you if he heard that."

"I know..." Giro grumbled, kicking his feet as he looking down towards the floor. She couldn't really blame him for acting up, after all Laxus was never home and it was only a sign that he missed him.

As Giro simply laid his head back down on the bar's surface, the doors of the guild creaked a bit as they were pushed open. Looking over to see who it was, Giro smiled widely.

"We're back!" A familiar voice called out, Happy quickly flying out from behind the couple that had entered the guild. "Aye!"

"Welcome back, you three." Mirajane greeted, smiling towards Natsu and Lucy as they made their way into the guild, hand in hand. Happy had quickly made his way over to the bar where he would be greeted by Giro with a tug of the tail.

"Wah so mean!" He whined, rubbing his bottom and pulling away his tail from the curious demon spawn. Giro simply snickered before he jumped off his chair and ran towards the two at the door who were making their way to the bar.

"Lucy-san! Mamas being mean." Giro commented as he looked up to the blonde, causing her to laugh a bit nervously.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you, Giro." She mumbled under her breath, but soon smiled normally towards the younger child when he gave a small pout. Giro was quick to turn his attention to the pinkette before him and Lucy soon let go of Natsu's hand, going over to take a seat at the bar while Giro and Natsu got aquainted once again.

"Fight me, Natsu!" The child shouted, raising his fist up in a fighting stance as Natsu simply sighed.

"Don't you ever give up, kid?" He grumbled, ruffling his hair so that it would be a mess by the time he pulled away. Giro protested against the action, and tried desperately to put it back to it's original style. Thankfully for Giro, all he had to do was brush it back to make it better again due to it being so short.

"What have you three been up to?" Mirajane ignored her child's outburst for the time being, looking towards Lucy who struggled to get comfortable in the small seat to the bar. If it wasn't obvious that she was pregnant 6 months ago, then her large belly now would be a wake up call to anyone who saw it.

"The usual." Lucy replied, resting her elbow on the surface and leaning her cheek on her hand. The usual had consisted of a few simple things as of late. Stay home and write her novel, occasionally stopping to use the bathroom and look for snacks.

Natsu had two moods in the months she had been pregnant. One was 'protective dragon daddy' where he insisted she stayed home and he do everything for her, or 'over energetic dragon daddy' where he tried many times to drag her out the house to do something. She couldn't go on jobs, so it was usually staying at home.

They had been doing this for a few months now, and everyone at the guild knew about the blondes condition. Natsu convinced her to visit the guild and tell everyone the good news, and it was a big shock to everyone. Gray had teased Natsu a lot, claiming he was surprised that he even knew where to put it. Erza was blushing wildly, shaking Lucy's hand and congratulating her to no end while Jellal was simply happy for the two.

Levy almost began to cry, claiming how she was sorry that she didn't realize earlier what was going on. Gajeel only gave Lucy an approving look, glad that she decided to tell them when they had returned from their vacation. Even Lily and Carla was happy to hear the news, as well as the rest of the guild as they celebrated the whole night.

"I see." Mirajane giggled watching Lucy adjust her seat a bit to her liking. She didn't think having such a large belly would make things so difficult to do but she was sadly mistaken. "You sure have gotten bigger." She commented, Lucy only sulking a bit at it because she knew it was true. Half of her clothes no longer fit and she had to go out and buy maternity clothes.

As of right now, Lucy simply wore a white summer dress, the sleeves were a floral lace and a light pink ribbon accented the look around her chest. It was nice and spacy, but it made Lucy feel like a circus tent.

"Lu-chan! Look at you!" Another voice had approached Lucy from behind, blinking her eyes a bit she turned to see Levy walking towards her with a smile on her face and Garcelle in her arms. Lucy smiled towards her when the shorter female had gotten closer and taken a seat beside her, resting the child in her lap.

"Ah Levy!" Lucy greeted her, Garcelle making bubbles with her spit as Lucy giggled in response. "Yeah, look at me." The blonde looked down to her stomach, sighing exhausted already from talking about her endeavors.

"You're bigger than I was! Are you sure you aren't having twins?" Levy questioned, Lucy practically choking on her own spit when the words were uttered.

"No way! It's just one!" She exclaimed, waving her hands frantically in front of her face. She felt drained enough from one dragon child, two would be too much for her fragile body to handle.

"Don't be so sure about that, Luce~" A firm hand fell upon Lucy's shoulder and she turned her head up towards the pink haired man who stood behind her, grinning like a dork.

"No way, don't even think about it." Lucy spoke sternly, poking his cheek a few times.

Levy simply laughed a bit as the two of them bickered about nothing in particular. As they continued on, a voice from another table had broken the conversation.

"Heh flame breath couldn't handle two brats." Gray, who had been sitting close by at a table with Juvia and Amaya, looked over to Natsu smirking. They honestly could never get enough of picking fights with each other could they?

"Oh yeah? You can barely handle Amaya, I feel bad she has a frozen piece of trash as a father!" Natsu was quick to defend, the two now somehow in each others faces and foreheads crashing into each others as they both tried to one up each other. Natsu's heat was starting to take the guild over until Gray's cold clashed with it causing an odd temperature to rise in the room.

"That is not true, Amaya has a wonderful father!" Juvia interjected, practically fuming with rage over the words Natsu had spoken. Lucy sighed, Juvia always had to add fuel to the fire, but she had a right to defend Gray.

"I ain't scared to take you on right here, right now!" Gray hissed, Natsu returning the hiss with flames now forming at his fist.

"You're on!" He smirked wildly and before long they had both began to throw punches. A ball of fire flew across the room and hit the wall, burning a large portion. After that, an icicle shot out and lodged itself on the request board, almost hitting Nab if he had not taken a step away.

It went on for a bit, that is until a flame had hit a certain iron dragon slayer right in the face. The two didn't stop, but Gajeel stood with rage building deep inside of him. With a burn now on his face, his arm turned into a metal rod and soon he crashed it inbetween the two.

"WOULD YOU TWO IDIOTS WATCH IT?!" He growled, and it wasn't long before an all out brawl had broke out between the drunken guild members and the riled up fathers, Jellal being the only innocent one.

"Ah, there goes the guildhall again." Cana grumbled, dodging a flying chair that had been thrown at her from an anonymous challenger. Miraculously, Lucy and Levy had not been dragged into the brawl and it was honestly a good thing. Garcelle watched things fly with sparkly eyes and Levy simply pout disappointed that her husband had jumped in so quickly.

"Those guys, I swear." Levy sighed, brushing a long lock of blue hair from her face with a sigh. Lucy had turned her back to the fighting, closing her eyes as her eyebrows furrowed a bit. A slight twinge of pain had shot through her like a lightning bolt, and she sat still as the storm blew past her.

"Goodness, where's Giro?" Mirajane looked among the crowd with a worried face, but her question was soon answered when she had seen Giro running among the wild crowd. He was obviously trying to get in on the action, but was getting no where. Mirajane casually strolled out into the middle of the fray and grabbed him by his shirt, dragging him back behind the bar for a quick lecture on staying out of the guilds rumbles.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Erza soon stepped into the storm with little fear, looking around for the source of the whole thing. Natsu and Gray no doubt, who had still been beating the crap out of each other.

"Let's just leave them to tire themselves out." Jellal waved his hand with a nervous smile, Erza glaring at the flying furniture before looking over to Jellal with an eyebrow raised.

"That will be a while." She spoke, "Then again, we haven't had a good fashioned brawl in a while." The scarlet haired mage smirked and before long she had cracked her knuckles before stomping into the fight. Jellal, who had the twins sitting next to him, sighed and let her do as she pleased.

Levy watched things fly to and fro, but her attention was caught by the blonde sitting next to her again.

"Anyways, Lu-chan, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to buy a few things for Garcelle." She spoke as the fight went on, Erza now joining in on the chaos. She smiled, hoping she would agree since shopping with Gajeel wasn't ever any real fun, not to mention he was obviously busy.

The ringing in her head had caused Lucy to miss part of what Levy had said, and only caught 'for Garcelle' before she looked over to Levy with narrowed eyes. "Eh?" Lucy questioned, raising a hand on to rub her temple slightly.

"Did you want to come shopping with me?" Levy asked again, this time louder and leaning closer to the mage so that she could hear her over the fighting. Garcelle babbled slightly, still watching the fight from over her mother's shoulder.

Lucy had managed to catch that part, and she soon nodded opening her eyes a bit more. "Sure, Levy-chan." Lucy replied with a weak smile, trying her best to ignore the pounding of her head.

"We should go ahead and get going, seeing as how this won't let up anytime soon and Gajeel and Natsu seem too busy trying to bite each others heads off." Levy teased with a giggle watching Gajeel bash Natsu over the head with his metal sword.

Lucy nodded, and when Levy had slid off her seat she held Garcelle in one arm holding out her other hand to help Lucy stand. She took her hand gratefully, and as soon as she rose from her seat she felt her self go light headed and fell down to her knees.

"Lu-chan!" Levy called out startled, kneeling down with her so that she wouldn't hit the ground too hard. Lucy hung her head, her consciousness slowly slipping in and out as she tried to gain her strength back and rise again.

Time slowed down suddenly, Gray was about to land another punch on Natsu when Natsu had suddenly stopped all movements. His eyes widened, the metallic smell of blood reaching his nostrils mixed with the familiar scent he loved so much. With a sharp turn, he immediately put two and two together and pushed Gray away before he could land the hit.

"Luce." He spoke simply and just like that the fight had died down. Gray panted slightly, rising an eyebrow in confusion before he turned his head to look towards Lucy with alarm.

"What's wrong?!" Levy had practically yelled in fear, Lucy had lost her balance and had fallen face forward into the bluenettes chest at this point. Natsu wasted no time in dashing towards his mate, stopping at Levy's side to hold up Lucy who was now fully unconscious.

"What happened?" He asked, almost robotically when he switched into protective dragon mode.

"I don't know, she was speaking just fine a second ago!" Levy said startled, holding Garcelle in her arms tightly as Natsu now picked Lucy up in his arms bridal style. The smell of blood reached his nose again, and this time it was clear where it was coming from. That surely wasn't normal, and fear took a tight grip on the dragon slayers heart.

The guild had gotten deathly quiet while the whole ordeal went down, everyone's eyes wide with panic as they all wondered what was wrong with the pregnant woman. Barely a second had passed, and the dragon slayer was soon running out the guild doors. Erza and Gray exchanged looks, and they too had taken off behind their teammates with little thought. Juvia and Jellal stayed put with the children, despite wanting to follow as well, and Levy shook with fear for her friend until Gajeel had attempted to console her.

"Everyone, don't worry!" Happy was the last to run after the four, and when he gave everyone a reassuring look he flew quickly after them.

 _"Hang on, Lushy."_

...


	13. Baby mine- END

**A/N:** And so, we reach the climax. I'm going to try to make this as long as I can for you guys, so please enjoy and thanks for staying with me for this long! On an unrelated note, please excuse any mistakes in the whole birthing thing, obviously I'm a teen with no children, despite me taking parenting classes.

...

It was a serene afternoon at Magnolia's small hospital. Not many people had been in, and it wasn't too bad with only a few flus here and there. The nurse had been typing away at her computer, yawning slightly as the time had approached around 4 and she stared at the lacrima that was floating in front of her. It had kept all the information she needed, but it was beginning to hurt her eyes.

When she was about to press another key on her floating board, it was as if a bomb had been set off at the entrance of the building. The doors burst open, the heat which pushed them had almost melted them off their hinges and the debris flew around in all kinds of directions.

Raising her arms above her to shield from any of the heat and flying wood, the startled female glanced up to see a man walk in with a woman in his arms. She was limp, her hair had coated her face so that her eyes had been shadowed over. One arm was thrown over her large stomach and the other which held the emblem of her guild dangled at her side.

With little hesitation, he moved towards the desk with great speed and it was evident he had been shaking.

"Help her." He said, his voice cracking a bit as he opened his mouth. "Please."

The woman stared with wide eyes, but she soon regained herself. "O-of course, I just need-"

"No! There's no time!" This time, he had been shouting and it was hard to hold himself back. He clenched his teeth together, fangs baring clearly as he did.

Footsteps were heard behind him and soon a slender hand found itself resting on Natsu's shoulder. He didn't have to look back to know it had been Erza who had done this, and she looked just as concerned as he did.

"Please." She repeated his words, feeling the shaking of his body and it wasn't near anywhere to stopping. Gray and Happy arrived on the scene as well, and they had held serious expressions which was clear that this was an emergency.

The woman gulped, and she soon scrambled to call more doctors over to the scene. It had taken a bit of convincing when the doctors came over with great speed, but Natsu managed to lay Lucy's body gently on a stretcher they had pushed over. He didn't want to let go, she felt so cold, and his instinct wanted nothing more than to make her warm again.

As soon as she was made comfortable she was rushed off to the emergency room. The frantic talking between the doctors was foreign to Natsu and as he ran along side them his gaze was glued onto the unconscious female. What had happened? She was doing fine earier, in fact she was laughing and the guild was just like it always was.

So why now? The way her skin went from the peachy color it always had to the drained white was excruciating to witness, Lucy didn't deserve this, Lucy doesn't deserve any of this.

...

 _"Natsu, I'm pregnant!"_

The words echoed in his mind, and it wouldn't leave him be. The team of doctors finally had brought her into the room, lifting her from the stretcher back onto the hospital bed. Their priority was to figure out what was wrong, and to make sure the child was alright.

Erza and the rest of Team Natsu had caught up to the room in which they had taken Lucy, but a nurse soon blocked off the entrance.

"I apologize, but medical personnel will only be allowed past this point."

"But-" Gray spoke, the nurse shaking his head sternly.

"I'm going in." Natsu stepped in front of the three, shadow covering his eyes and his hands clenched into fist. A stinging heat emanated from his body and the nurse looked up to him. "I'm the father, I have to be there."

"I apologize," he said again. "Even if you are the father, these are the rules and I simply can't break them."

The nurse was about to turn his back towards the group, however Natsu's hand gripped tightly onto his shoulder and turned him around. When he was turned around, the sight he was greeted with made him shudder in fear. Natsu had been glaring at him with his piercing onyx eyes, his mouth curled up into a sneer and his teeth clenched.

"I don't give a damn, she needs me!" He growled fiercely, and it was obvious that he would not take no for an answer. The hand that had been placed on the nurse's shoulder began to glow red and soon the heat from it had sunken from the shirt into the man. With a screech, he quickly moved out of Natsu's way as he patted his shirt to stop the flames.

"Natsu..." Erza spoke sadly, not able to imagine the fear and worry that he was experiencing. Happy had floated after Natsu when he entered the room, trembling with just as much fear as the dragon slayer and hoping, praying to Mavis, that she was OK.

"Sir you can't-" Natsu had little care for people who had gotten in his way, and another nurse had made the mistake in taking a step in front of him. Natsu growled once again and this time he shoved the man away, causing him to fall into another worker who simply stared at Natsu with wide eyes.

Happy quickly flew to the side of the bed and Natsu stopped in his tracks at the sight before him. Lucy laid with narrowed eyes but was awake, many things were hooked up into her and the monitor next to her had been beeping wildy as it kept track of her heartbeat. Beads of sweat had been rolling down her face and the way her face had contorted it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.

"It seems that the little stunt sent you into labor, Ms Heartfilia." The doctor spoke, the way they had positioned her meant that they were doing their best to check the status of the baby. Lucy didn't respond, she had just woken up from her fainting spell after all and she felt all of her energy being slowly sucked out of her body.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to go ahead and get this baby out of there."

Her chocolate eyes slowly lifted up to look at the pinkette that stood in the middle of the room with wide eyes. His body was clearly trembling and before long he sped over to Lucy's side, grabbing her dangling hand and squeezing it with his.

"Nat...su..." Lucy gasped, her stomach rising and falling from her rapid breaths she had been taking. Natsu knelt by her bedside, using his thumb to stroke the pink Fairy Tail symbol gently. The doctor and nurses had made sure to change the female into the hospital gown, her original summer dress was much too stained with the red substance to stay.

"I'm right here." He spoke softly, his tone changing completely from the time that he had yelled at the nurse.

"I-I'm..." Lucy began, warm tears now forming in her eyes as another contraction shot through her body. She closed her eyes tightly, causing a few of those tears to fall down her cheek. Natsu shushed her gently, moving a hand to her hair where he simply stroked the locks soothingly.

"You'll get through this." He replied, the words causing her tears to come down stronger than before.

"I'm... so sorry... so sorry..." She choked out through sobs, the words causing the dragon slayer to raise his eyebrows in confusion and alarm.

 _"I didn't tell you, I should have told you."_ Lucy's thoughts swirled about in her head, her hand instinctively tightened around Natsu's much larger hand as she laid in the bed and the frantic doctors worked around her.

"I didn't-"

"Ms Heartfilia I'm going to need you to try your best, alright?" A nurse had cut her off as she sat at Lucy's legs which were lifted up. The nurse had put on gloves and soon put on her surgical mask for the birth.

Lucy turned her attention back to the woman and nodded her head slowly, trails of her tears still fresh on her cheeks. "O-okay..." She muttered softly, every fiber of her being was aching and she felt like she was ready to fall apart. She wanted nothing more then to go back to how she was a few months ago. Happy, around her friends, and deciding what color to make the child's room.

All of her happy thoughts and wishes for the future were now distorted into dark messes. She had to be strong for herself, not only for herself, but for Fairy Tail and her new addition to the family.

There was no way in hell she was going to be ripped apart from her child so quickly.

"Breathe and push." The nurse was supportive and very calming, her voice being low so that she wouldn't alarm Lucy and cause her to panic. Lucy began to sweat a bit more, the excruciating pain which came with every push was enough to let a yell fall from her lips and her nails dig into the hand which she held onto.

Natsu didn't flinch, in fact he had barely even moved from his spot next to his partner and his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. His eyes scanned the females face, taking note of how pale she had gotten and how her hair had stuck to her face, disheveled and scattered about the pillow she lay on.

It was hard to look at her, it was difficult to see her in such pain and distress. Not in a million years did he ever expect to see this angelic woman in such a devastating state, not even the worst of their battles had her this exhausted.

"You're doing great, Luce." Natsu spoke, voice cracking once more as he tried to toughen up and hold back any emotion he wanted so desperately to show. Despite the crack in his voice, the grin which came on his face was wide and beaming, Lucy's weak gaze looking up to him and smiling ever so slightly in return.

She didn't thank him, she couldn't find the words to thank him, the pain which she was feeling had threatned to send her back into unconsciousness. She held on as best as she could, but it was evident that the darkness wanted to pull her off into sleep.

"Come on, dear, you're doing amazingly!" The nurse had spoke up loudly, causing Lucy to snap back into reality and realize where she was. She breathed heavily before she tried her best to push once more, the nurse cheering her on.

...

How long has it been? It felt like hours, and Natsu's guess was probably right. The afternoon which had been setting in when they had came to the hospital was now gone and in its place was the cold and dark night.

Natsu didn't leave her side though, as she continued to try her best to bring their child into the world he did his best to soothe her. He brushed some of her sticky hair away from her face, whispering words into her ear to calm her down.

"When we get outta here we're gonna find the biggest house ever." He spoke, smiling a bit as he continued to stroke her hair. She looked up to him weakly, the small smile on her face growing a tiny bit more.

"Really...?" Lucy asked, voice low.

He nodded in response, and she couldn't help but smile more then she has in the hours of her being here. He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, letting his lips linger for a bit before pulling away.

The gesture was kind and warm, the kiss relieved a bit of her pain but it didn't take it all away. As much as Natsu wanted to take it away, she was still holding back yells from the contractions that continued to wrack her body.

"I can see them!" The nurse suddenly spoke out, and Natsu's eyes shot back up towards the woman who had been helping her. He could feel his heart skip a beat, and he held as tightly as he could to Lucy's hand. The monitor beside her beeped erratically, the lines on the screen shooting up and down from Lucy's heart.

Lucy felt another yell rip from her throat, this time her head had fallen back onto the pillow as she screamed bloody murder. If she tried hard enough she was sure to make Natsu's hand bleed from how deep her nails had dug into it.

He held onto her, the nails doing little effect and his stare glued onto Lucy. "You're doing amazing, Luce." He reassured, leaning in again holding the females hand close to his chest. If she had been paying attention, she would have been able to feel the frantic heartbeat of his.

When Lucy's screams had died down, she panted heavily and tried to focus her sight again. She had seen blurry spots, and at times she would see darkness before the beaming light of the room was seen again.

Suddenly, the room was filled with another scream. It was high pitched, and the attention of the room was brought to the screaming child in the nurses arms. Lucy had managed to do the final push to bring the child into the world and soon the rooms atmosphere changed.

"Congratulations, It's a girl!" She nurse spoke, and her look turned to the pinkette and blonde who were staring in shock. Lucy was trying her best to keep her eyelids from sliding down and slipping off into sleep, her vision blurry as she tried to adjust it.

"Luce... you did it." Natsu spoke happily, his laughter bubbling up from his throat as he leaned his forehead against hers affectionately. "It's a girl..." he whispered again, Lucy nodding and looking up to the man she adored so much. A girl, that's amazing.

It didn't take long for the nurse to take the child away to clean her up, and soon she was brought back into the room with her parents.

"She's... beautiful."

The nurse had made her way to the other side of Lucy, holding the small baby in her arms and passing her over to the weak female. Despite her arms feeling like they were going to fall off, Lucy didn't hesitate to take the child in her arms. She was shaking, but not from weakness, but from the emotion she was feeling.

In her arms, their child was still screaming from being forced out in the world, but it was music to their ears.

Like a curious child, Natsu's eyes were wide as he stared at the baby in her arms. Her skin was a peachy color, much like her mothers, and her messy hair had been a familiar shade of pink. Lucy brought her hand up to brush against the childs face, the softness of her skin causing Lucy to become teary eyed again.

She turned her head to look at Natsu before long, his eyes never leaving the small child. With a soft smile, she reached her arms a bit towards him and held the baby out to him.

"Want to hold her?" She asked quietly, her smile becoming wider when she said this.

Natsu was taken back and looked up to Lucy in shock, his hands shook a bit nervously and he gulped. He never really held a child that was this young, and he was scared he would break her or something similar to that.

When Lucy had persisted, he took the hint and soon held out his arms to her. Lucy set her down gently until she had let go of her and she was soon snuggled up in Natsu's arms. By the time they had done this, she had silenced herself considerably. Her crying had died down to a couple of coos, and she was calmer now.

"Wow..." Natsu spoke breathlessly holding her as gently as he could. Gentle Natsu was a funny thing to witness, but it was sweet as well. It was as if he was holding a porcelain doll and was trying his best not to crack it.

Lucy watched the two with a fondness in her smile. Despite how exhausted she looked, her hair still a mess and sticking to her face from the sweat, she was happy. Glad to see her family before her, all that was missing was everyone else.

"Lucy!" The door had opened as Erza, Gray and Happy rushed into the room, Lucy's thoughts being answered quickly. They had been let through by the nurses and were frantic to see their nakama. As soon as their eyes laid on the couple before them, they paused in their tracks.

Happy was the first to take a step forward, and he soon spread his wings to float over to the bed where Natsu sat. Happy curiously peered down at the child and when the baby had opened her eyes to reveal chocolate brown eyes Happy couldn't help but become teary eyed. In return, she had also been eyeing the new people before her with curiousity.

"She's gorgeous." Erza chimed in, taking a step closer as well and looking down to her with a large smile and tears pricking at her eyes.

"Heh she does look like you, alright." Gray added, smiling as well with his hands in his pockets. Despite his cool demeanor, he was just as worried as everyone else.

"Yeah." Natsu simply replied, gently muttering some words to the baby.

From outside the door, a small commotion could be heard until it had sprung open once again.

"Sir, we can't have this many visitors!" A frantic nurse spoke out, most likely the one from earlier, and he was soon shoved to the side by a rough hand.

"Outta my way, we came to see our nakama." Gajeel said, giving the man a death glare and soon many members of Fairy Tail had appeared behind him.

"Everyone..." Lucy said weakly, her smile never leaving her face as the room filled with all of her beloved friends.

"Lu-chan!" Levy was the first to run over to the female and hug her tightly. Lucy made a dissatisfied grunt, which in turn caused Levy to release her grip on the female. "Sorry..." She muttered with a sweat drop, and she soon turned her attention to the little bundle of joy in Natsu's arms.

"Oh my, Juvia is so happy!" The water mage beamed.

"You had us worried there, bunnygirl." Gajeel spoke with a smirk as he looked over to the bundled up child.

"I'm glad to see you're ok, Lucy." Jellal spoke with a kind smile, walking up to Erza.

"Well, what's their name?" Lily spoke, crossing his arms curiously.

The words and chattering of the guild members all died down when they had turned their attention to the parents. Both of them blinked in unison, and looked towards each other.

They both began to think, and before they could say anything the blue feline had hoped into the air with delight.

"Nashi!" He chimed, everyone collectively nodding in agreement, it fit the little pink haired girl that's for sure.

"Nashi, Juvia thinks it's wonderful." Juvia smiled brightly.

"Yes, very fitting." Erza soon replied, crossing her arms with a proud smile.

"Great, even has a name like you." Gray muttered, Natsu and him exchanging glares before it was broken by their smiles. They were too happy to argue for once.

"Nashi..." Lucy spoke softly as she rose a weak and shaky hand to the child. Brushing her hair softly, Lucy began to let fresh tears fall down her cheeks. If only Layla and Jude were here to see their beautiful grandchild. The spirits will be glad to meet her, too, she thought. Especially Aquarius.

"As soon as we get back to the guild you better believe we're gonna party like there's no tomorrow!" Gray shot a fist up into the air, and everyone in the room erupted into cheers. Natsu watched his nakama with a grin and he turned his gaze back to Nashi. He leaned down slowly, placing his forehead against the childs as he closed his eyes.

"I'm going to give you everything I never had." He softly spoke, the child raising a very small hand out to reach for his face. He laughed happily, opening his eyes to reveal a few tears that had also formed out of happiness.

"Man, Igneel would have loved you..."

"Natsu, can I hold her?" Levy asked eagerly, Garcelle and the rest of the children were back at the guild with Makarov so that she was able to hold the newborn freely. Natsu eyed Levy suspiciously, and although she was no threat at all his dragon instincts left him to be wary with his first born.

"Mgh... I guess so." He grumbled reluctantly, rising in his seat and walking over to the smaller bluenette so he can make sure nothing happens during the exchange. He slowly held her out to her, Levy being gentle and experienced seeing as she has had her own child before.

"Wah she's so small!" Levy giggled, Natsu smiling towards them both watching Nashi look around the room with little idea of what was going on.

"Guess she get's that from you, Salamander" Gajeel was quick to tease, Natsu shooting him another glare.

"Alright, give her back." Natsu spoke and held out his arms for his child, Levy whined, wanting to hold her for a bit longer.

"Aw come on, Natsu." She pouted, Natsu not being phased.

"Natsu, leave her be." Lucy spoke from her bed, Natsu turning to see Lucy looking at him with a frown. It was obvious she wasn't in any state to keep up with the guilds energy, so he just left it be.

"Alright... just for a little!"

"I am next!" Erza soon beamed, and the room became louder once again.

As Lucy watched her friends, she glanced down towards her hand which held the pink symbol she adored so much. She could feel her magic deteriorating with every move she made.

 _"Thank you, for letting me see my child..."_ She thought to herself, her eyelids becoming heavy as the darkness tempted her with sleep. She clutched her hand into a fist, her breathing becoming slower with every breath she took. The beeps from the monitor slowed down considerably, and soon it was to the point where it was a beep every so often.

She could feel her final breaths leaving her body, and she looked up to catch sight of her friends once again. Her vision blurred, she only saw them for a few seconds. She blinked, and when she opened them again doctors were now surrounding her, her hearing had died down to only a white noise. When she felt her eyes close again, as much as she tried to keep them open, the last thing she swore she heard was a scream.

She forced her eyes open, not able to feel anything anymore, and she saw it. Despite the rise in temperature, she could only see the waves of heat that englufed the room. She saw his expression, her guildmates trying their best to hold him back as his mouth was wide from his obvious screaming. He reached a hand out to her, but before she could even try to reach back, darkness engulfed her once more.

 _"Natsu, I'm sorry... please, take care of Nashi."_

...

He wouldn't leave her side. Despite many of the doctors trying to put the white sheets over her lifeless body, he wouldn't allow them. He clutched onto her tightly, face burried into her sheets as it was already stained with his tears.

He was visibly shaking, teeth clentched as he tried so very hard to hold back his sobs. It wasn't doing any good though, and anyone could hear his mourning.

Happy was the only one who had stayed by his side. He too was cuddled up to Lucy's side, blobs of tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried not to sob too loudly either. The rest of the members have left him to mourn, they too choking back tears. They sat outside the door, crying and trying their best to console each other. They didn't want to get between him and Lucy.

"Sir?" A voice called out.

Natsu didn't flinch, and if he had not moved they would have thought he was asleep. However, he lifted his head from his position on the bed, shadows cloaking over his eyes as he stayed staring at the body.

"I'm sorry for your loss." The voice spoke, it sounded masculine and saddened by the loss of the woman. "We have taken your child to the nursery and-"

"Bring her to me." Natsu cut him off quickly.

"But sir, it's our rule to keep the children for a while to make sure everything is fine-"

"I said, bring her to me." The second time around was harsher then the first and when he lifted his head the way his eyes pierced into the mans heart would have made anyone want to run from the room.

"R-right." The doctor replied with a stutter, backing away from Natsu before he turned on his heel and stepped out of the room. "I-if you meet us outside we can make sure you take her home today." With that, the doctor quickly ran out. Happy lifted his head up from his place as well, looking to his caretaker with wide and teary eyes.

"W-what are we going to do, N-Natsu?" He sobbed, paws rubbing at his eyes. Natsu looked back to his blue feline friend, his expression even more pained as he was asked this pressing question. Without hesitation, he held out his arms for him and soon Happy had flown over to squeeze him. As Natsu stroked his head, Happy had started to sob once more, hiccuping a few times.

"We're going to continue living, for Lucy." He simply spoke. "For Nashi, too."

"Y-yeah, for Nashi..." Happy sniffed in-between words, looking up to Natsu with his ears flattened against his head. As painful as it will be, they can live without their beloved Lucy.

She was more than just a pretty face, she was their friend, and to Happy, she was just like his mother. To Natsu, she was his everything. Best friend? Check. The first real love of his life? You bet. The pinkette clutched Happy tightly as he thought of the woman, not daring to look at the body which lay before them again. It was too painful.

He would have to let go, he wasn't going to stay in this hospital room forever no matter how much he didn't want to leave her. Releasing Happy from his grip, he looked down to him with his signature grins. The grin that would fill his nakama up with hope whenever they were done, and that is exactly what it had done to Happy. Even though it was forced, it still made a difference.

The two of them rose from their seats, Happy floating close by to Natsu as he looked down to Lucy. She looked peaceful, despite the pain she was put through, and this only made the pain of looking at her even stronger.

"I love you, Luce." Natsu spoke outloud, not ashamed to say the words in front of Happy. He knew this all to well, after all. "I always will love you... no doubt our girl will know of her kick ass mother."

Leaning down, he placed one last kiss on the females forehead before he pulled away. As he clutched his hands into fist, he took all the strength he could to turn away and walk towards the door. He needed to see his child, he needed to be there for her and to help her grow. He will love her twice as much, once for himself and twice for Lucy.

Lucy was going to have a funeral, no doubt about that, and Natsu would definitely find the biggest house he could just for his little girl.

 _"Daddy will protect you, Nashi."_

 _"Always."_

...

Wow, for my first ACTUAL fanfic on this site I'm surprised at how many people liked it!

Thank you all SO much for coming this far with me! I'll admit, I'm kind of having a love/hate relationship with this story and how I went about it, but in the end I'm happy. I know many of you were looking forward to seeing Lucy and her weird cravings/Daddy Natsu fluff but don't worry I'll do a one-shot just for you!

I know the ending is... dark. Though, I wanted to go this route. My headcanon that the magic power was far too great and ends up killing her just overtook my need for a happy ending.

I'm sorry! I promise my next story will have more happiness! *sobs* and more Nashi too! *wink wink* so once again, thanks, and stay tuned for future stories!


	14. Epilogue: Dragon Slayer cravings

The sun in the sky had been shining extra bright that morning, the rays coming from it shot through the window of Lucy's apartment. The female laid in her bed, the light hitting her face causing her to scrunch up her face in displeasure. The heat that came from it had caused her to turn on her side to avoid it.

Some birds have been chirping outside of the window but she stayed asleep. That is, until she began to wake up on her own accord. She grumbled a bit to herself, eyebrows furrowing as she forced her eyes to open. Waking up from such a nice sleep wasn't very fun, and the morning sickness that followed after wasn't fun either.

"Dammit..." she pouted, her sitting up causing her blankets to fall from her form. She rubbed her eyes drowsily, and when she blinked them open again she could have sworn she saw a figure looming near her. Jumping out of fear, she adjusted her eyes once more and saw that it was nothing but her mind playing tricks on her.

"What the...?" She mumbled to herself, looking around again to make sure that there really wasn't a creeper lurking about.

"GOOD MORNING!" a cheerful voice screamed out as Happy jumped up in front of Lucy. The scream which followed after was not pretty and she soon scrambled back until she hit the headboard of her bed. She panted heavily, and when she saw it was nothing more but Happy she began to glare at him, a glare that could rival even Erza's.

"Haaaaappyyyyy, what on Earthland were you thinking?!" She yelled, instinctively grabbing a nearby pillow and swinging it at the floating cat. He quickly dodged, laughing as he flew circles around her bed room. She clenched her teeth in irriation, and quickly threw off the covers from her body.

"That's it, come here!" She yelled in anger, taking a step out of the bed but wobbling a bit due to her new found weight. She kept her balance and looked down to the belly which now showed clearly as ever. She sighed, thinking he was lucky that this belly was holding back her full rage. It wouldn't hold her back too far, however.

"Lushy did you know you snore worse than a grizzly bear?" Happy teased, his mouth curling into a devious smirk as he rose his paws up to snicker. She got a dangerous glint and she stomped her way over to him, grabbing his tail and bouncing him up and down like a Paddleball.

"What did you say, you damn cat?!" She growled, her mood swings not doing much to calm her rage from being scared like that.

"Waaah! I'm sorry, Lushy!" He was quick to apologize, sobbing as he was thrown about by the relentless pregnant woman. "You're scary! I'm telling on you!" He pouted, squirming out of her grip as she crossed her arms over her large stomach.

"Oh yeah?" She rolled her eyes, turning her back to him and sighing. "Sorry Happy, just don't startle me like that." She then spoke, looking over her shoulder to the blue feline who had been rubbing his tail with teary eyes.

"I'm sorryyyyy I was just checking to make sure you were okay." Happy pouted as he sat on her soft bed. The sun had still been shining out of the window, and hit Happy slightly meanwhile.

"Eh? Why would you need to check on me?" The female asked confused, turning to face him again.

"Well..." He began, twiddling his fingers. "Natsu left and he asked me to check on you for him."

Lucy stared at him for a few seconds, and soon her expression darkned. He left, again? When she was in this state? She looked down to the floor, hands balling into fist as she gave the floor a cold glare that he swore would turn anyone to stone.

"Lushy?" The feline asked concerned, but she didn't answer.

"He promised me he'd stay, that stupid dragon." With that, she turned and stormed off to the bathroom. Happy watched her with wide eyes, startled at the sudden mood swings. She had slammed the door behind her, leaving the cat to sit in silence. "She's scarier then Erza like this..." He grumbled, and before long he heard a shriek.

Happy could feel his fur crawl up his back as he jumped into the air. He fell onto the floor hard, not getting up until the door swung open again. The sight before him was something from a dream. Lucy stood at the door step, eyes wide with fear and confusion as she held up a hand engulfed in flames.

"HAPPY!" She screamed again, flailing the hand around as she tried her best to stop it. "HELP MEEEE!" The desperate screams from the female could be heard outside, and Happy jumped up flying around her not sure what to do.

"WHY ARE YOU ON FIRE, LUSHY?!" He screamed in reply, the blonde shaking her head frantically not sure what to answer.

"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!"

The two began to scream in unison again, Lucy dashing to the bathroom once again. She frantically reached for the knob of the tub, turning it and letting the cold water pour into the porcelain tub. When a steady stream was released, she stuck her flaming hand under it as quickly as she could.

She stared with wider eyes when the water did nothing but make the fire worse. She trembled, and she opened her mouth as wide as she could. "WAAAAAH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, NATSUUUUU!"

"I'LL SAVE YOU, LUSHY!" Happy had quickly dashed into the bathroom, a bucket of water in his hands as he let it fall onto her. Now drenched in water and her arm now becoming encased in the flames, Lucy's lip began to tremble. Happy blinked, and he slowly flew back out of the room as if he just set off a bomb.

It was right on cue, and Lucy had burst out a screech that would wake up the neighbors. She hiccuped and sobbed, staring at her now flaming hand. It wasn't hurting, oddly enough, it was just a little warm. She tried to think of reasons that it would happen, and all she could think about was blaming Natsu for it.

She was able to turn off the stream of water from her bathtub and as soon as the water was reduced to nothing but a few drops she heard a door slam from the outside. She jumped startled, big blobs of tears still rolling down her cheeks before she rose to check it out.

"Happy?" She questioned, wondering if he had left due to her crazy outburst, but instead was met with a speeding blur of pink that dashed before her eyes. She took a step back out of alarm, and felt hands grab her shoulders quickly. Blinking a few times to adjust, she was soon face to face with the culprit, Natsu Dragneel.

"N-Natsu?" She said startled, staring directly into his eyes which were wide with concern.

"Lucy are you OK?! I could hear you all the way from the marketplace!" Natsu exclaimed, removing his hands from her shoulders and grabbing her face to examine it for any damage. With her cheeks squished up from the action Lucy could only stare in alarm.

"U-uh, not really." She managed to sputter out and Natsu sniffed the air a few times. He glanced down to the arm which was encased in flames and he stared for a few seconds.

"Whoa!" He spoke quickly, grabbing her arm to examine it now. "Since when could you do that?" The pinkette said with child-like curiosity , eyes sparkling from amazement.

Her surprise was now replaced with annoyance and she gave a deep sigh. "I never could do it! Make it stop!" She was quick to complain, waving her arm about once again in a last minute attempt at stopping it. Natsu rose his eyebrows and soon he cracked a smile.

She stopped her actions and watched as he quickly burst out into laughter. He threw his arms around her and quickly pulled her into a hug. "Luce, you're seriously amazing." He spoke through chuckles, Lucy's cheeks turning a bright red.

"W-what are you talking about? My arm-"

"I know I know, I got it." As he calmed down his laughter, he gently grabbed her arm once again and held it up. Sucking in the flames, they were soon gone before she knew it and Lucy's arm was free from the raging fire.

He sighed and smiled contently, licking his lips a bit and causing Lucy to rub her arm shyly. "S-sheesh... that was your fault, you know." She whined.

"Well you must have done something to spark something like that." He teased, poking her nose and causing her to think back to when it happened. Her rage must have been a factor, and she felt even more embarrassed now.

"W-well... what are you doing here? Happy said you left." Lucy quickly protested, crossing her arms not forgetting why she was upset in the first place.

"Oh, yeah. I did." He nodded but he didn't seem at all suspicious. Happy had floated back up to the two, seeing that the flaming Lucy was gone and so was her crying. Natsu had raised a hand up to stop her from speaking, and turned to grab a large bag which was set near the door when it was kicked open from before.

She watched him confused, and he soon let the bag of things fall down to her feet. Out of it stumbled things such as clothes, toys, and books that all seemed to be for younger children. Lucy watched the things stumble out of the bag, and she kneeled down as best she could to pick up a plush dragon that had fallen out.

She stared at the plushie, Natsu grinning widely as he blushed lightly out of happiness. "I found a whole bunch of stuff for the baby." He spoke, crossing his arms feeling confident about the things he had gathered for his child. "Though maybe we should get more... after all, you can never have enough toys!"

Lucy ran a hand over the shiny scales which the soft plush had, the red scales reminding her of a familiar dragon which was now rambling on about how he would get as many toys and clothes as he could. He was showing her most of the clothes he had gotten, telling her how he found one that said 'my daddy is flamin' hot' and one that said 'i'm as pretty as mommy'.

Watching him get so excited about this made her fill up with joy, causing her to squeeze the toy in her arms and smile widely as he continued to speak. "Natsu..." She began, her eyebrows lowering as she gazed at him with affection and love. "These are great... I'm glad that you're here for me."

Natsu stopped his rambling and smiled a bit more then before. He took a step closer, putting a hand on her head and leaning her closer so that he could lean his forehead against hers as he usually did. "Of course, Luce, you know I'm gonna be there for you." He beamed, Lucy feeling warm tears of happiness form at her eyes.

"Yeah... thank you." Lucy simply replied, her heart welling up with pride and love for the dorky dragon slayer she was so lucky to meet. His expression softened when he saw the shimmering beads of tears at her eyes, and before they could fall he lifted her chin upwards and placed a kiss on her lips.

It lingered for a pleasant amount of time, the simple gesture letting her now just how much he loved her. They never really had to exchange the words, it was always there, and now with the child in Lucy's womb they would be able to express it even more.

When he pulled away, Lucy couldn't help but wrap her arms around him and bring him in for a tight hug. He was careful when hugging her back, not wanting to crush her or her belly with his grasp. Happy had stayed quietly in the back, snickering under his breath and thinking his signature 'They liiiiiike each other' phrase.

"Though I can't really help you all the time with your body randomly bursting to flames, gotta control that Luce~" Natsu had began to tease her, poking her squishy cheeks and causing her to whine again waving her hand about.

"It's not my fault! Though, I guess eating them made a lot of sense... it did look pretty good..." Lucy began to think back to the flames and how they flickered around, her stomach growling a bit at the thought. The thought didn't stay long however, because Lucy quickly realized what she was thinking and widened her eyes.

"Natsu, you idiot! This is all your fault!" She was quick to give a few gentle yet firm whacks on his chest before turning away in a huff. He began to laugh loudly again, taking a mental note to tease her about it for the rest of the pregnancy.

"Heh want me to make you some tasty flames, Luce?"

"... Maybe..."

...

I hope you guys liked this simple read. I didn't want to make it too long, seeing as it was just a one-shot for some fluff rather then the feels!


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